Blank Slate
by Winged Element
Summary: A seemingly normal mission goes haywire when an accident finds Nero completely human in an unknown place with no memory of who he was. Rated for swearing.
1. A Seemingly Simple Mission

A/N: Hello folks! This is my first fanfiction so please enjoy! Check out my profile if you want to know about me and my updating habits.

Disclaimer: I can only dream that I own DMC, but alas, I do not, nor the Hunchback of Notre Dame

A Seemingly Simple Mission

"Why are we both going on this mission again?" Nero groaned as he exited the car.

"Because it's been an overly slow day and I know if I'd left you at the office you'd have gotten into some sort of mischief and eaten my pizza." Dante shrugged.

"I don't get into that much trouble." The younger slayer said with a roll of his eyes.

"You eat my pizza, that's mischief enough to warrant getting shot." The elder growled, retrieving Rebellion from the trunk and placing it in its customary place on his back.

"That was one time! You didn't need to go for your guns over it! Besides, I'm a teenager! I was hungry!" Nero stopped ranting when he realized that the other man was smirking. "Shut up old man." Dante raised his hands in a gesture that said 'I didn't say anything.'

In all honesty Nero enjoyed the other slayer's presence; the older man was laid back and understood what it meant to have devil blood in his veins. He'd moved in when Fortuna had hit rock bottom when it came to demons and he and Kyrie had hit a few bumps in their relationship. It was nothing that couldn't be fixed with a bit of work but right now the partial demon couldn't bring himself to move out of Devil May Cry.

"Kid?" Dante's question shook him from his thoughts and he realized that he'd stopped walking.

"What kind of demon are we going after again?" he asked

"You weren't paying any attention were you?"

"No." Nero stated as thought this should be obvious to the other man, Dante sighed.

"That's the thing, this was a mission that Lady dumped on us 'cause she didn't want to do it herself, I wouldn't have taken it, seeing as all the profits are going to go to her, but it was so slow that I was about to start picking up the office."

"That wouldn't have been so bad." The younger muttered

"So! Here we are, going after a demon that has supposedly only spooked a good number of people and killed some small game." Dante went on as though Nero hadn't spoken

"You're kidding me, right? This thing hasn't actually hurt anyone?" the older man thought for a moment then shook his head "Why am I here then? Seriously, I could do this mission with my eyes closed and one arm behind my back!" he gestured with his devil bringer for emphasis.

"Well we're here now, so…" Dante pointed to a small cottage up ahead, inside of which the smaller man could detect a _very _faint demonic aura. Wow, this thing's barely even worth the effort, Nero thought, staring at his devil bringer, which wasn't even the slightest bit brighter than normal.

"We just gonna barge in?"

"I don't see why not." The half devil shrugged, the other returned the motion then tore the door down with his bringer and in went the two slayers.

There was a startled squawk then awkward silence. The demon was very owlish looking; a beak, feathers, wings, down to the taloned feet. The only thing that made it unusual was its size for it probably stood just less than five feet, and the two feather coated arms with seemingly agile hands on the end. I would almost call it cute, the teenager thought before leaping into action. For being such a weak demon, it dodged pretty damn well, jumping from place to place while the two slayers wreaked havoc on the demon's home.

"Stop!" it screeched "Stop it! You're going to destroy all my studies!" this confused Nero, since when did demons care about their surroundings, and since when did they ask the slayers to stop?

"Quit movin' and that wouldn't be a problem!" Dante shouted over the gunfire with a rather manic grin on his face.

"I said stop!" it yelped. Nero turned his attention back to the owlish creature just in time to see something thrown at him. It exploded and the young man got a face-full of a strange gas. He coughed, stepping backwards in an attempt to escape it, only to trip over a book and go tumbling into a shelf. He had time to think, what the hell was that? Before unconsciousness overtook him.

Dante stared at the spot where Nero had just been, then turned his sights back to the demon, who was also staring that direction from its spot on the table.

"Where the hell did he go?" he growled, both guns trained on it

"I… I don't know. He crashed into my teleporter but in doing so he knocked it off the shelf. It could take awhile to figure out where it sent him."

"You better figure it out quickly, demon, or you won't be around much longer."

"What did I do to upset you two?" it squeaked

"You were scaring people! I was given a mission to hunt you down, I'm just doing my job, sorry if you were caught on the wrong end."

"I was seen!?" the demon seemed upset by this fact and paced back and forth, its feathers all in a ruffle. "Oh no… that was not supposed to happen… I just wanted to study in piece, and the human world is much calmer, not so much feuding…" it paused, and then took another look at Dante. "You… you wouldn't happen to be Dante would you?"

Dante, who was used to being recognized by demons for being the 'infamous son of Sparda' merely shrugged.

"Sure, gonna go after me now 'cause my pops was a traitor?" The demon was already poking at the shattered remains of the teleporter. The creature truly seemed to be sorry for what appeared to be an accident so the half devil was trying to cool down a little until he could find the kid again.

"No, I had the ill fortune to run into your brother many years ago." It kept fiddling with the device then uttered a low curse in its demonic tongue. This thing knew Verge? Dante was taken aback by this piece of news; it really was a small world.

"What's wrong? Can you find the kid?"

"No, but I'm sure I can figure something out. I really am sorry, I was just trying to stop you two from wreaking so much damage so I could explain myself." It shook its head "I really wanted to run more tests before I gave that potion a trial run too…"

"Wait, potion?" Dante raised a silver brow "That wasn't just a smoke bomb?"

"No, it was a potion to seal away demonic power and render it useless for a currently unknown period of time, but it's incomplete so there may be some strange side effects." the devil in red paled at the owlish demon's explanation.

"Help me find Nero."

"It's the least I can do for the trouble I've caused." It was already on the move, looking through the rows of shelves that had escaped the devil hunters' wrath.

"What can I call you?" Dante asked, feeling in his gut that this would not be a short partnership.

"Well," the demon hefted a large tome from a shelf "my name is rather difficult to pronounce in the English language, but I've always been rather fond of the tale _The Hunchback of Notre Dame, _so you may call me Quasi."

A/N: Well there's the first chapter for you! This is way more fun than I thought! Again, first fanfic, so please be gentle with the heavy criticism.

Till next time

Winged Element


	2. Injuries and Memories

A/N: Hello again! I've decided that I'm addicted to this whole fanfiction thing, thanks to those of you who are already fav/followed this; it makes me feel so loved. Without further ado, chapter two (wow, that rhymed)

Injuries and Memories

Emily stared at the boy laying in their lawn as thought she'd never seen one in her life. Then her brain overcame her shock and she whirled into action.

"MOM! There's a boy out here! He's hurt!" she flipped the brunette over, hoping that it wouldn't hurt him further and paused once more at the sight of his pretty face; though it was streaked with blood.

"What?" her mother rushed around from the garden where she'd been tinkering around. "Good God!" she gasped, staring at the unconscious youth. Emily could see him breathing evenly and put her head to his chest just to be sure. His heartbeat was smooth as well.

"Where did he come from?" Janice asked, watching her daughter look over the boy

"That's the thing, I don't know. I stepped outside and he was laying there." She looked at her mom, unsure of what to do.

"Well we can't just leave him out here, let's bring him inside and get him cleaned up." The two women carefully picked the young man up and wobbled slowly to the door under his weight. Once inside the house they laid him on the couch and Janice began wiping some of the blood from his body.

"Take his jacket and hoodie off, we need to see how bad his injuries are." She commanded her daughter, who complied with a slight blush. When the young man was left in a tight fitting t-shirt and they could clearly see that the only thing wrong with him were a few minor cuts and a couple rather nasty looking bruises. Emily found herself staring at him, and then shook her head, what am I doing? She reprimanded herself, you have a boyfriend! That doesn't mean I can't look though, the ever treacherous inner voice of desire whispered in her head. She pointedly ignored her own thoughts and stared hard at the design on the couch until a glint of silver caught her eye. What's that? Emily thought as she looked closer at the side of the boy's thigh that was wedged against the couch, and then she let out a sharp gasp.

"Mom… look." She pointed

"Is that a…"

"It's a gun." The dirty blonde girl reached for it with the curiosity that always seemed to get her in trouble. As soon as it was in her hands, the double barreled revolver being heavier than she expected, the boy stirred, letting out a low groan. The gun was quickly moved to the coffee table as Emily and her mother crowded around.

Blue eyes fluttered open and the boy's hand went to his head.

"What… what's going on…?"

"Thank heaven you're okay!" Janice exclaimed

"We found outside our house." Emily explained, the boy blinked. He looked down at himself glancing at his hands and flexing them curiously.

"Do you…" he took a moment to swallow "do you know who I am?" the females in the room froze.

Dante paced outside the cottage, praying that some low-level demon would spawn just so he could kill something to pass the time. Quasi had long since shooed him out of the house, realizing that Dante was doing more harm than good. When the slayer was about ready to start shooting random things Quasi poked his head out the door.

"Well?" he asked the owlish demon

"It's going to be hard to track the boy, even with his sword; I may not even be able to locate him until his demonic powers resurface."

"And how long will that take?"

"I don't know, the potion was still in its infancy, it could be a couple days or it could even be a couple of months."

"Months?!" Dante yelped, what would the kid do until he got his abilities back? How would he make it back to the office? Because Nero's demonic blood was more obviously active all the time, it was harder for Dante to imagine the kid without them, or how much he usually relied upon them.

"Like I said, I don't know, it might depend on how strong his demonic blood is, or it might be how long it takes the potion to work out of his system. This potion was made for full demons, not hybrids." Quasi shook his head and ran his fingers through his ruffled feathers. Then a thought seemed to strike him

"Speaking of hybrids, is the boy a half-breed like yourself? Or…?"

"I don't know." Dante admitted "I don't even think he knows himself, he's always had some demonic blood in him but most of it seemed to have gotten activated when he got his devil bringer."

"Devil bringer?"

"His right arm."

"Ah." The demon nodded, seeming deep in thought. "I wonder…" then he shook his head "Nah, couldn't be…" he wandered off into the house again, calling over his shoulder.

"You might want to head back home; I'll be on this for a while."

"If I come back and you're gone, I _will _hunt you down." The slayer threatened, though the demon seemed to be one of his word. Dante turned and walked back in the direction of his car, his eyes on the clouds.

"Where are you Nero?"

A/N: Ahem… I meant to put this up yesterday but ah… I accidentally didn't save it to my flash drive so I could take it home from school… oops. Anyway, it's here now! Please enjoy.

Till next time,

-Winged Element


	3. A New Name

A/N: Hello again! I hope everyone is doing well, this is chapter three! Already! Sorry about the previous being shorter, but it just seemed like a good stopping point, I never require any specific length from my chapters so they'll be all over the place…

A New Name

The two females stared at the teen who merely kept staring at his hands and wracking his brain for some piece of information, any hint of who he was. His right hand fascinated him for some reason; the smooth pink skin that was maybe a few shades lighter than the pale skin of his left, the skin of his palm was overly calloused, as though it took a regular beating.

"You… you don't know?" the older woman seemed to recover herself first.

"No." he sat up slowly, aware that he was hurt but his brain told him it wouldn't last long. "I wish I did, but there's… nothing, absolutely nothing there." He gestured to his head.

"Do you have a wallet or something on you?" the younger girl asked, her green eyes brightening. The teen shuffled around, reaching into his pockets, something telling him that there was supposed to be one there but his hands came up empty save for some lint and a stick of gum.

"No." he sighed, feeling more lost than he had a few moments ago.

"It's alright." The woman said, putting a hand on his shoulder in an attempt to comfort him. "I'm sure it won't take long for us to find out, in the meantime, why don't you join us for lunch?" the former slayer nodded, standing up rather quickly. The girl grabbed his arm to help him regain his balance and the boy had to stop himself from ripping his arm away from her. What was wrong with that? He wondered, why am I freaking out over her touching my arm? He looked at his right hand suspiciously then followed the pair into the kitchen. Once there, the older woman pulled some sandwich making materials out onto the counter and as she did so the teen began to feel how hungry he actually was.

"My name's Emily." The girl said, patting the bar stool next to her. "And that's my mom, Janice." She nodded to the older woman.

"I wish I could tell you my name." the boy returned with a look of intense concentration on his face.

"Well, what should we call you until you remember?" Janice asked from the refrigerator "We can't just say 'hey you' all the time."

"My name…" the teen resisted the urge to scrunch his eyes closed as he fought with the cloud in his mind. "… it started with an 'N'."

"Hmm…" Emily tapped her chin, staring off into space as she thought. "Was it Nathan? Or Nathaniel? Or just Nate? That's really all I come up with when I think of boys names that start with 'n'."

"Nate sounds… close." The newly renamed teen nodded

"Well, Nate it is, until you remember otherwise." Janice set a plate of food in front of each of the teenagers, keeping one of the plates for herself.

"How did I get here?" Nate asked, hoping it might clue him in on who he was or at least where he'd come from.

"I honestly have no idea." Emily said after swallowing her rather large bite of turkey sandwich "I came outside to help my mom and there you were, playing possum in our front lawn."

"Emily." Her mother scolded "You don't need to make it sound so rude."

"Sorry."

"So I just appeared out of nowhere with nothing but the clothes on my back?" the brunette scoffed, not quite being able to believe that. Unless he fell out of the sky, he had to have been carrying _something._

"You did have a revolver on you." Emily looked rather excited about this, as though it promised some prospect of adventure.

"I had a gun?!"

"Yeah." She leapt off the stool and scurried into the living room to retrieve it.

"I could've been some criminal or something…" the boy put a hand to his head, what if he'd been some horrible person before? What if he'd done something so bad, his brain refused to let him remember what it was? A hand over his brought him from his thoughts.

"I've only known you for a few minutes and I can already tell, you are not a heartless person. If you committed some crime, it would've been your only option."

"How can you have such faith in a person you barely know?" he was honestly curious now, he didn't even have that kind of faith in himself at the moment.

"The same way I have faith in God." Janice touched the small golden cross on her necklace. At that moment, Emily came back in and gently put the silver gun in front of Nate. Cautiously, he reached forward and picked it up; the weight was familiar in his hand, comforting, until a train wreck of thoughts crashed into his brain.

_Bullets wizzing through the air, the smell of blood surrounding him, filling the body of the being in front of him over and over again with hot lead, quick reload, blast again, and again, and _again _until the thing died, the adrenalin of its death…_

Nate quickly yelped and put the gun down, looking away from it. What was that? He thought, was that a memory?

"What is it?" both women were looking at him curiously now

"I-I don't know." The blue eyed boy took a deep breath, trying to calm himself. It wasn't only that the memory had scared him, it excited him to no end as well. "I think I was trying to remember something."

"That's good!" Emily smiled, then took notice of the tremors running through Nate. "Or maybe it isn't?"

"It was… something to do with that gun." He shook his head, brushing the matter off until he'd be able to think about it on his own. Instead, he began to inspect the beautiful designs coating the gun. The most evident being a delicate looking blue rose, it turned the hunk of metal in front of him from a death dealing weapon to a work of art.

"Tell us when you're ready." With that Janice shooed her daughter out with her from the kitchen, leaving Nate alone with his own thoughts.

"Mom!" Emily complained as her mother steered her to the garden

"Hush! The poor boy is probably feeling very overwhelmed right now, let's leave him be."

"Is he going to stay with us? Can he stay with us?" Emily would be lying if she said the amnesic teen wasn't interesting. Her life had started to follow too much pattern lately and this was a nice chunk of adventure that had landed right in her yard. Her mother looked to the sky before answering.

"I feel like your father would've let him stay, we'd be going against his will if we just left him to sort things out for himself." Emily gave a sad smile at the mention of her father, then said with a bittersweet grin

"You kidding me? Dad would've adopted him at this point."

Her mother smiled gently in return.

"Yes, you're right. He would have done something like that."

A/N: Yup, that's the chapter I had almost done yesterday and was like, yeah! I'll post this tonight and it'll be awesome! And then this crazy thing called my life happened and it was past midnight when I finally would've been able to finish it… I apologize if it sounds funny, I don't write in third person often. This is multi-purpose! It's fun and it helps me practice my third person!

Till next time,

-Winged Element


	4. Family

A/N: I'm seriously getting too much amusement out of tormenting Nero… It's pretty sad actually.

Disclaimer: Seriously, would I be writing fanfiction about DMC if I owned it? (Actually I probably would…)

Family

Dante sighed, leaning back in the chair on his desk as he began to pull Ebony and Ivory apart to clean them for the umpteenth time. He had just set the parts out in front of him when the door flew open with a loud bang. The slayer didn't even look up from his desk when someone approached him.

"Go away." He growled, still absorbed in the task at hand. The person in front of his desk ignored him, as he knew she would.

"What happened to that job? You still owe me, remember?" Lady planted her hands on the desk in front of him, effectively shuffling some of the pieces there. Dante finally looked up into the angry woman's face.

"That job got the kid teleported god knows where by a benign demon." The slayer deadpanned. He was grouchy, worried, and bored; if Lady didn't get out of here before his guns were cleaned she would probably receive several warning shots.

"Teleported? What kind of demon was it?" she seemed genuinely interested now, dammit, Dante thought, now she _really _won't leave.

"Some type of owl demon, not sure on the actual breed, really weak." The man in red hoped if he gave short answers she'd get the point and leave him to his sulking.

"But it teleported Nero?"

"Yes."

"How?"

"Device."

"God dammit Dante! Stop ignoring me! I'm not leaving until you give me the details!" the woman finally snapped, slapping the desk to emphasize her point. Dante looked up in surprise, she knew?

"Honestly, you're not that hard to figure out. Ignoring me is not going to make me leave; sometimes I stay longer just to piss you off." She flashed a quick grin "Anyway, if you tell me, I might be able to help you find Nero. He's a good person, unlike you, so I won't charge you for my help."

"Damn bitch…" the white haired man grumbled under his breath

"What was that?"  
"The kid got hit with a potion the demon was working on, it's supposed to be used to suppress demonic abilities, in the process he tripped over a shelf and crashed into Quasi's teleporter. He's working on locating the kid now, but it'll be easier once he gets his demonic powers back."

"Who's Quasi?"

"The demon, he's benevolent so I just left him be, he didn't intend to even be seen by any humans." The hunter explained, returning to assembling two of his prized possessions. Lady rolled her eyes at Dante's forgiving nature.

"I'm adding the money from the job to your debt." She informed him; already trying to think of ways she might be able to track the younger slayer.

"Come on!" the older man groaned as the huntress left his shop, a wicked grin on her face. As soon as she left, he sobered, his thoughts returning to the possible location of his brother in arms. Another, more disturbing thought entered his mind, what if the return of Nero's demonic abilities corrupted him somehow? Changed him? He shivered at the thought, that wouldn't happen. Nero was stronger than that; he wasn't anything like Vergil, though he carried his brother's blade.

_He had to save her, he had to! In his distraction he took a blade to the shoulder and nearly crumpled at the staggering pain. Instead he growled, rising to his feet once more and forcing his way through, not caring what became of him, none of it mattered. He'd do anything to protect her… he needed more… power. Something deep inside him stirred and he felt a new well of strength. His legs propelled him forward, almost there… almost there…_

Nate jolted awake, then shook his head, the dream fading a little, the details blurry in his mind. What was that? A memory? He took a deep breath, trying to relax after the rather disturbing images in his mind. He knew he'd been fighting, but what? Why? He had to protect someone, but who? The questions swirled in his mind tracing his lack of a past and trailing over why this family had taken him in. Emily, her mother and her brother, who Nate had been introduced to in the afternoon when the boy returned home, they were all so kind. But why were they so nice to him? There was obviously something dangerous in his past, enough so for him to warrant owning a gun. Said gun was lying on the nightstand next to him… or was supposed to be. Nate gasped when he realized it was in his hand and quickly deposited it back on the stand. The brunette lay there, breathing deeply for a while, until sleep slowly drifted over him again.

_The waves crashed around him, soaking his face and white hair as he giggled._

_ "Nero!" called out a pretty red headed girl_

_ "Come on Kyrie!" he said, grinning widely "The waves are fun!" As he spoke, a huge one came up behind him and knocked him from his short, eight year old legs. He came up coughing, spitting out the salty water with disgust. A chime like laugh distracted him from the taste, Kyrie stood, with her ankles in the water, laughing at his predicament._

_ "Think this is funny?" he glared at her and she nodded as tears came to her eyes as she struggled to breath in merriment. "Well…" he tackled her lightly into the shallow water "let's see how you like it!"_

_ "Nero! Stop it!" it quickly became a wrestling match, the two splashing and giggling the whole while._

_ "Hey! You two! Come on! You need sunscreen!" they paused in their game to see the slightly older boy waving madly from the beach._

_ "Come on Credo! Let's just have fun!" Nero called out, waving back_

_ "You especially Nero! Do you want to be sunburned?"_

_ "No…" the white haired youth pouted, grumbling the whole way back to shore._

_ "You can get back in the water when it sets in, but if I just let you go, mom and dad would kill me." Credo explained while helping the younger two apply the slimy lotion._

_ "Nero, let's build a sand castle while we wait." Kyrie smiled at him; he nodded following her with the necessary tools to construct a fortress._

_ "We've got to have lots of knights and a big huge battle against the forces of evil!" he exclaimed, gesturing wildly with his arms._

Emily peeked into the spare room to see Nate sleeping peacefully. A sigh escaped his lips and he shuffled slightly.

"Kyrie…" the name rolled off his lips softly. Emily smiled at the peaceful sight, maybe he'd remember something in the morning, he certainly seemed to in his dreams.

"Emily, come on." Roy hissed behind her

"I'm coming." She whispered back, closing the door softly and following her brother out the door for school.

A/N: Yes! New chapter! I had this a couple of sentences away from finishing when my third period ended and when I went back at the end of the day to finish and post it… the library was closed! It was a downer… but it's up now! Thanks all of you who have this fav/followed, it makes me so happy. And I have a question for all of you, two actually:

Where do you think Devil May Cry (the shop) is? I'm aiming for the US, cause that's what I'm familiar with but I want to hear your opinions.

And, do you think Nero was born left-handed or do you think he adapted when he got his Devil Bringer? I personally think he's a lefty but I'm kinda biased…

Till next time,

-Winged Element


	5. Routine Day

A/N: Hello and good morning all! Well, at least it's morning for me right now. I've decided to say, screw online AP Calc, and let's type fanfiction instead! Warning! There's a big time skip in this one! Mostly because I didn't feel like writing more filler, it's kinda boring to write.

Disclaimer: I do not own the great DMC, though I wish I owned the games.

Routine Day

Nate rolled over, trying to hold onto the last dregs of sleep before he woke up for the day, it was a Saturday, and the sun was shining into his window and warmly onto his back. He was sure that he'd dreamed further into his past last night but still could not recall any details. Something about… a church? Someone getting shot unexpectedly? The teen sighed and sat upright, shaking the thoughts from his mind, he never remembered the details, no matter how hard he tried. There was a soft knock on his door.

"Come in." he called, his voice a little raspy from sleep. Emily poked her head in the door.

"I didn't know if you were up." She said with a smile "But Roy is cooking this morning so I thought I'd wake you if you weren't." Nate brightened then took a moment to smell the air, he could, in fact, smell breakfast cooking down the hallway. Roy was amazing in the kitchen but it often took a lot of convincing to get the boy in there to do what he thought of as a 'woman's' job. The amnesiac teen took another sniff at the air.

"Omelets?" he asked as the scents of eggs, onions, cheese and other ingredients hit his nose.

"I'm still amazed you can do that." Emily shot him an odd look. "It's like you have super senses or something."

"What can I say?" Nate shrugged "I'm just an awesome person." He felt as though the last comment was something that someone he'd known before would say and that he'd picked it up, but the teen had grown accustomed to the strange sense of déjà vu that always seemed to be hanging over him. He leapt out of the bed, and stretched leisurely.

"Stop showing off." Emily stuck her tongue out at him and he returned the gesture, following her as she headed for the kitchen.

He had been staying in the Samson house for a little over a month now. They'd done quite a lot to help him, enough so that he felt indebted to them but didn't know what to do to make it up to them. Janice had been kind enough to try and help him find out who he was through normal means, like the government, and he'd had a few tests done but… It was like he'd just fallen out of the sky, the doctor guesstimated that he was probably around eighteen or nineteen years old and so he'd taken a guess that he was likely still in high school. Enrolling with the Samson siblings had just felt like a logical choice, not to mention it gave him something to do during the day rather than sit at the house and twiddle his thumbs over a past he couldn't recall.

The teen had some odd quirks, that was for sure, things that just didn't seem to add up, muscle memories that took the weirdest moments to pop up. His senses were one of those things, they seemed above and beyond that of everyone else's, and unless he was mistaken, Nate was pretty sure they were just getting better…

"Nate?" Emily called behind her shoulder, wondering why the other had stopped. He was off in lala land again; she reached for his hand, intent on dragging him to the kitchen forcefully. As soon as her fingers brushed his right hand he jerked it away, this always happened and Nate himself didn't know why. The other teen shook his head and gave her a small smile to assure her that he was back from wherever he'd gone.

"I'm fine, I was just thinking."

"Well don't break anything." She teased. He rolled his eyes and walked into the source of the delicious smell.

"Ah, sleeping beauty is awake." Roy said from the stove, where he was sliding the last omelet onto a plate.

"Roy…" Janice said from the table where she was nursing a creamy looking coffee. The TV hummed from the living room, informing the small group of what the weather was likely going to be for the day. Emily's fraternal twin snickered, and handed Nate a plate good naturedly. As soon as he knew Janice wasn't looking he flipped Roy the bird, drawing further snickers from him. Emily just rolled her eyes at the boy's antics and took her plate to the table; once they were all seated Janice spoke a quick prayer and they ate before the food went cold.

Dante groaned as he got out of his car, it was too early to be up, especially when he'd had the night he did. But this is when Quasi said to meet him, so he couldn't really say otherwise, the whole reason he'd gone out last night was to distract himself from the issue that the demon was attempting to help him solve. The kid was still missing, and the half devil was starting to get really worried about what those 'potential side effects' were, was the kid okay? Was he lost? Had he gotten his abilities back? If Nero were somewhere without money and no way to return home, he'd find a way, the teen was resourceful and determined so what on earth was taking him so long to slink back home? Maybe he'd been teleported back to Fortuna and decided that while he was human that he needed to fix things with Kyrie… Dante shook his head, while Nero may have done such a thing, he wouldn't leave the elder slayer without at least telling him where he was going.

"He wouldn't do that…" the man in red muttered, knocking on the cottage door before letting himself in. The entire shop was a bit smoky, as though there'd been a recent fire.

"Ah! Dante!" Quasi was currently hanging from the ceiling with his talons, obviously looking for something in the rafters.

"Did you find anything?"

"Not much, but I was able to whip something up from the leftover demonic aura on Nero's blade."

"You were? What is it?"

"One moment." The demon finally snagged what he wanted and fell rather ungracefully to the ground. It was a simple black feather, the kind you might buy at a craft store.

"What's that for? Don't you have enough of those?" the demon took a moment to glare at the slayer.

"I needed a pure black one." He set it into a type of crazy looking contraption; it looked like something from a science fiction movie with all the beakers and burners.

"What is that?" Dante eyed it warily, unsure if it was safe to approach.

"This is to test if Nero's demonic powers are returning, but there was only enough left around the blade to do this once. If it doesn't work, I'm back to the drawing board." With that he lit a small burner and there was a lot of creaking and bubbling. Smoke passed over the feather, and it turned the slightest bit grey.

"What does that mean?" the hunter asked, confused as all get out.

"If his powers had fully returned, the feather would be white, as it turned the tiniest bit grey, it means that they're just starting to return."

"So the kid's okay?"

"I would assume so." Quasi nodded. A big grin split Dante's face; things were starting to look up.

Nate got out of the shower that night after a lazy day of kicking Roy's butt at his video games. There was something about the violence that pleased him to no end. He grinned and shook some water droplets out of his hair, then looked in the mirror. What he saw there startled him a little, his hair, normally a dull brown, was lighter, enough to have a very visible difference.

"What the hell?" he muttered touching the mirror as though the reflection would change.

A/N: and that's where I'm ending it!

Till next time,

Winged Element


	6. Cat Like Reflexes

A/N: Sorry to all those out there for my lack of updates this weekend, I have no excuse, except maybe reading other people's DMC fanfics, so I guess I was sharing the love… plus I had a tradition filled weekend, my family put up our christmas tree and watched It's a Wonderful Life (amazing classic if you've never seen it). Then today was cookie baking day, I think we made over twelve different kinds of cookies, enough to the point where we couldn't see our table… O.o I'll stop rambling now and let you guys read.

Disclaimer: Dude, I don't own this, and don't think I ever will. (If I did, I wouldn't be destroying the games like they're doing…)

Cat-Like Reflexes

Nate continued to stare, unable to comprehend what he was seeing in the mirror.

"What the hell…?" he repeated. There was a soft knock on the door.

"Nate, you almost done?" Roy's voice came from the door, the other boy clearly eager to get in the shower.

"Roy did you change your shampoo?" the stunned teen asked, hoping that this was all some practical joke.

"No, dude, why would I do that? What's up in there?" Roy sounded confused and was about to open the door when Nate beat him to it.

The slightly older boy looked more than a little freaked out and after a moment of observing him, Roy could see why. Nate's hair was no longer the dull brown it used to be, instead it was lighter, not really blonde, but more of a… storm cloud grey, if the twin had to pick a specific color.

"Are you sure?" his eyes were wide and he was attempting to pull a strand in front of his eyes to see for himself what the mirror had just shown him.

"Yes, I'm sure, what on earth did you do to it?"

"Nothing! I just washed it like a normally do and when I got out it was like this!" the older boy seemed on the verge of a panic attack so Roy braced a hand on either of his shoulders.

"I'm sure it's nothing important. It's just a hair color, right? Hell, maybe it'll help us find out who you were before you fell out of the sky." The reference to the family's joke seemed to calm the teen down a little.

"I suppose you're right." He said then took a deep breath, trying to calm himself. "I need to get some sleep." Nate muttered before grabbing his things and heading for his bedroom.

_Nero growled deep in his throat, and part of his mind screamed at him for doing so; this was his foster brother! The very same man who'd taught him how to swim and how to swordfight and even ribbed him about girls when the two were slightly older. The other part, the larger part, of Nero's mind was angry, _furious, _that this man had allowed things to go this far. How dare he stand before Nero as though he were superior? The teen struggled with the devil within himself, a devil that was now much more potent (Nero blamed Agnus solely for that fact)._

_ "Back down, I don't want to hurt you." He found himself saying "I won't do that to Kyrie." Praying that that argument would work against his instincts. The attempt turned out to be futile when Credo said._

_ "Hurt me? You don't get it, do you?" there was a flash of light and…_

Nate sat up, then flopped over with a groan, waking up to flashes of memory that he didn't even remember the second he regained consciousness seemed like a nightly occurrence. After a moment of thought he rolled out of bed, whereas he would normally just return to sleep and dream more. Emily said he spoke occasionally in the early morning when she attempted to wake him. Something about a girl's name, Kyrie and once he had mumbled about 'Red Queen', whatever that was. Instead tonight he padded slowly over to his dresser, where his original clothes and the ornate revolver sat.

Cautiously he reached forward and picked up the revolver.

_He turned his attention back to the owlish creature just in time to see something thrown at him. It exploded into a large cloud of gas and the young man coughed, pedaling backwards to escape it, and then he found himself falling. There were crashes around him and he had time to think, what the hell?_

The former brunette stared blankly at the gun, that couldn't have been a memory, there was no way on earth that _that _was a memory. What the hell had that creature been? Nothing like that existed. Never had, never would. All the same, the boy found his thoughts tracing back to some of the church services he had attended with the Samson's, the priest had spoken of demons and angels and a good many other things but only one of those stuck with him now…

"No. I'm just half asleep." He muttered, shaking his head, and then looked down at his hands which had apparently decided that he needed to clean the revolver without his permission. Nate had no idea how he did it, you could ask him what the different parts of the gun where and he'd be able to tell you as quick as lightning. It shouldn't surprise him then that he was able to pick apart and clean his own gun without even thinking about it. It was just another quirk of his.

The next day started off as any other Sunday would, with church services and general house clean up. It was shockingly warm for an October day and so the three teens of the household had taken to the outdoors.

"What do you want to do?" Emily asked the boys, sure that anything she brought up would be shot down immediately.

"We could walk down to Colby's and see if he and Jack can scrounge up another person for some three on three." Roy said, Nate nodded amiably, personally he was just grateful to be outside, being cooped up anywhere for any length of time seemed to grate at him for some reason. He wondered for a moment if he possibly had ADD then shook the thought off when the twins started off down the street.

The neighborhood was nice but the road was one that was just offset from the busiest one in town, so people had a nasty habit of speeding wildly through the subdivision streets. Nate, off in his own thoughts, as usual, didn't hear the car until it was almost on top of him.

"NATE!" Emily and Roy screamed in unison. The reawakening hunter didn't think, he just acted. Before he knew it, he had jumped clear over the car and landed gracefully on his feet behind it. There was a moment of awkward staring between all three of them before Nate swallowed nervously.

"Dude! That was freakin' awesome! You just jumped over a car!" Roy's eyes lit up a little, while Emily's were still wide with shock.

"I don't know what happened, I just… did it."

"That was a minivan! Normal people don't just jump over minivans! You must be like some kind of parcour fanatic or something!"

"Uh, yeah, maybe." Nate trailed off, and continued in the direction of Colby's house as though he hadn't just dodged death by a hair. How did I do that? He wondered after his heart rate slowed a little. There are so many things that are just weird with me, I wonder if I'll ever get them all figured out. Roy had continued to ramble until they reached the other boy's place and then told the story over again. Throughout the telling, the neighbor boy shot him rather dirty and disbelieving looks. Nate always had a feeling that Colby didn't like him just because he'd appeared out of nowhere and was a little different from everybody else. It saddened him because he had a feeling in his gut that that was not a new thing for him…

A/N: Yup! Sorry if this chapter's kinda boring, it's mostly filler for now until the ball really gets rolling (read: Nero's Devil Bringer). Anywho, thanks again to all those who follow this, you people make my day, and if you want to help me suffer through AP Calc, drop a review!


	7. Irritation

A/N: Yeah! More chapters! I've got a feeling that this one is gonna be a lot of fun!

Disclaimer: No. Just…no.

Irritation

Dante growled, beyond a little frustrated as he continued to scan through varying files. Lady actually sighed and patted his shoulder.

"You said it." Then dropped the file she had in her hands and leaned back in her chair, rubbing her temples in exhaustion. The pair had been going through file after file, report after report in an attempt to find Nero, or at least _some _indication as to his location. Many of the reports and files that they were scanning weren't things that ordinary people got their hands on and Lady had had to cash in quite a few favors to snag them. Not that Dante wasn't grateful, it was just… they weren't doing any good…

The doors to the shop slammed open and Trish strolled in, carrying Chinese food and covered in bits of gore.

"You would not believe how willing people are to give you your food right away when you look like you just came from war." She snickered, and began passing out the cartons, Dante scowled at the lack of pizza but the two women had overpowered him and right now, food was food. Lady gave a short lived grin.

"How was the mission?" she asked, the trio had been alternating taking missions and hunting for clues.

"Dull." The demoness replied, flipping her stained hair over her shoulder and perching on the edge of Dante's desk.

"Then why the war paint?" the hunter in red asked from behind his file.

"The damn thing apparently thought it'd be funny to explode unexpectedly when I had it cornered." She growled, trying to wipe her hands off on her pants before she ate. "Any luck here?"

"No." the other two sighed in unison. There was a moment of sad silence and then the small group of slayers picked up food and files and set to work.

Nate sighed before stepping into the classroom, it wasn't that he didn't like gym but… ever since the car incident over two weeks ago his speeds and reflexes and strength just seemed to be getting better and better. It creeped him out. Not to mention the whole place smelled funny to his now oversensitive nose. Everything about him kept leaning to the freaky side, his hair was now almost a pure white and he would get strange headaches. It felt like there was some odd… pressure, in the back of his mind; it would come on and then pass, like he were walking by someone on the street and ceased to be able to hear their conversation.

"Nate?" Emily noticed him standing in the doorway of the locker room. "You're gonna be late, you better go change." The now white haired teen shook his head and hurriedly threw his gym clothes on.

Class started off normal, everything seemed too easy, just as it always did to him, the petty humans didn't stand a chance. Nate blinked in shock, had that thought really just come from him? What was it? Why would he think something like that? He was human too…right? The boy stepped forward in line in a daze until he took notice of his racing partner. Colby downright sneered at him and for a brief, brief moment, Nate saw a bulky man with greasy hair and a monocle, looking at him as though he were nothing more than a piece of meat.

"You ready to lose?"

"Ready to eat your words?" Nate shot back, not even thinking about the comeback, being snarky was apparently a natural talent for him. The two continued to glare at one another and Nate, expecting a whistle, missed the shout of 'go!'

"Shit!" he muttered, taking off after the boy who now had a rather large headstart. As his legs carried him effortlessly forward at a pace that pushed on insane, the teen realized that he needn't have worried. Colby was losing steam after pushing himself so hard to start and Nate blew past him as though he were standing still.

When he came around the second bend of the track and slowed to a stop on the finish line there were many hushed whispers floating around.

"Did you see that?"

"That was incredible."

"It was almost like he was flying."

"It didn't look like he was even trying." Before Nate could start to worry about the seeds of the rumors that would surely fly the school before lunch, Emily wrapped an arm around his shoulders.

"That was amazing!" the bright grin she gave was one that he couldn't help but return in earnest.

"Thanks." He replied, feeling a little better due to his pseudo sister's support. Then Colby finished his lap and greeted Nate with an unbridled death glare.

"Nice race." Nate couldn't help himself when he ribbed the other boy. All he got in return was more fury in Colby's eyes.

During the walk home, Emily filled her twin in on the spectacular race that she'd seen.

"It was incredible! Man, you should've seen him. Makes me wonder what he looks like when he's actually going all out…"

"Dude, maybe you were, like a circus performer or something." Roy elbowed him

"What kind of performer has a gun?"

"A sharpshooter, you probably did acrobatics and shot crazy targets or something!"

"I don't think that's who I used to be." Nate rubbed at his nose in embarrassment, then scratched his arm a little more furiously than he had a moment ago.

"You need to get that checked out if it's bothering you that much." Emily commented as she looked at the red scratches Nate was inflicting on himself.

"It's nothing." He mumbled "I probably just got poison ivy or something."

"Well stop scratching it. Rubbing at it isn't gonna make it any better."

"But it-"

"Nope!" Emily put a finger to his lips and Roy just watched in amusement "No buts! My mom is crazy allergic to poison ivy so you better stop scratching it because we will not be a happy household if you infect her." Nate simply rolled his eyes and headed off to his room to make a probably failed attempt at pre-calculus.

Little over an hour later, he found himself waking from a dream where he'd been attacked by sines and cosines who had beaten him many times over with their triangle swords and guns that fired the Pythagorean theorem. The teen lifted his head from his textbook and tried to focus on it, perhaps remember what on earth he'd been attempting.

"That dream better not have been a memory or I swear I was a nutcase." He stretched leisurely and decided the math was a lost cause, Emily would help him later. Slamming the text closed he paused. Nate looked at his right arm, then back to his left and back again. Praying that maybe, just maybe, it would look the same, that it wouldn't look quite so freaky. The freakiness wasn't even really the problem, it was the fact that it was getting worse.

Earlier he'd noticed the bits of discoloration but just attributed them to the irritation of his skin but now… now the bits that had been a bit more red were upraised, bumpy. As though there was something underneath his skin… Hesitantly he touched it and was surprised at the rough feel of the skin, and then there was a tiny flash of blue, on the back of his hand, and he nearly yelped. His arm had just glowed for a second!

A/N: Yeah, I'm evil and gonna leave it there…


	8. Unnatural Growth

A/N: Hey people! So I'm starting this chapter now, even though I probably won't finish it until third hour tomorrow, I don't know a better way to spend right before bed than typing a fun fanfiction. Thanks bunches to those who take the time to read this, you guys are amazing!

Disclaimer: We mere mortals are incapable of owning Dante and DMC, and I, am a mere mortal…

Unnatural Growth

Nate continued to stare at his arm, half expecting to wake up again and half expecting it to start glowing again. Then a mild jolt of pain shot up the bone and the teen's breath hissed out between his teeth.

"Ouch…" he couldn't help but continuing to stare at his limb. It was only a little bit of his hand and wrist that looked weird but still… was it infected with something? Was it possessed? He flexed his fingers.

_Blood welled beneath his talons and he relished the sensation, it fed his savage instincts and he grinned, tightening his grip._

The memory hit Nate like a wrecking ball and he gasped for air like a fish out of water. That had been him? The sensation in the memory was one of sheer and utter bloodlust. So much so that Nate wondered what the scenario around it was. What could cause someone to be that angry? Why?

"Nate?" there was a soft knock on his door. "I just wanted to know if you needed help with your homework."

"Uh, yeah." He quickly pulled on the hoodie on the chair behind him, pulling the long sleeve over the strange ridges on his hand. Emily entered the room quietly and pulled up a chair next to him.

"You fell asleep didn't you?" she stated, staring at his face and the large red mark on his cheek. Nate rubbed at his nose in embarrassment, that motion in itself an admission of guilt.

"I was tired."

"You've been sleeping a lot lately, are you okay?" she put a hand to his forehead.

"I'm fine." He brushed her hand away.

"Alright." Emily didn't sound convinced but she let the matter drop.

"I've got something!" Lady burst into Devil May Cry, waving a sheet in front of her madly. Dante started awake from his place behind his desk and stared at her with curiosity in his eyes.

"What is it?" Trish asked from the balcony.

"A friend of mine spotted a white haired teen in one of the towns he was passing through on his way to a mission."

"You think it's the kid?" Dante was interested now, leaning forward. "What town?"

"Madison, Ohio." Lady slapped the paper on the desk in front of him; it turned out to be a map with directions to the small town.

"It's worth a shot." Trish said, looking over Dante's shoulder to see the map.

"I'll go." The half devil said. He needed to know why the kid hadn't returned home yet.

"Don't expect us to save you any missions." Lady said with a grin. The slayer rolled his eyes.

"Like I would expect a money grubbing leech like you to do that." The man stopped talking when one of Lady's hands twitched for her gun.

"Good luck." Trish patted him on the shoulder as he grabbed his prized weapons.

"I'll be back with the kid, even if I have to drag him." He said with a grin and turned for the door, in a more upbeat mood than he had been for the past month and a half.

Quasi fluttered around his hut, tinkering with varying projects before moving on to something else.

"This won't do…" he muttered, the weak demon huffed a deep sigh and ran a hand through his feathers. He couldn't seem to focus on anything! It was infuriating beyond all belief! Ever since he'd accidentally teleported the poor devil slayer off without his own demonic abilities… The owlish creature felt horrible for it to say the least.

There was something about the younger slayer that had caught his attention, something about him reminded him of… what was it?

"Power with nothing to protect is useless…" the demon's eyes widened when he remembered those words, spoken to another half devil long ago when he'd been looking over an amulet for him…

"I need to speak with Dante…" Quasi whispered and rushed around, looking for a way to contact the slayer in red.

The next day brought new challenges; Nate woke before his alarm from a nightmare of being stabbed by a flying suit of armor and then made the mistake of looking down at his hand. The back of his hand was glowing solidly now and the ridged bumps around it were no longer just a soft red but a deep burgundy.

"What is this…?" he whispered, tracing over the tough feeling ridges. The teen flipped his hand over and followed them to his wrist. His palm felt funny, bumpy, like the swirls of his hand had become more defined and it looked… almost bluish… In a moment of slight panic, the teen wrapped the hand up, concerned that others might see it and the Samson's would kick him out because he was a freak or something.

"Who was I?" Nate asked himself again. The question plagued him like a shadow and he wanted it answered. Now.

Had he done something horrible in his past and this was his punishment? To not know what he'd done and be labeled as a freak for the rest of his life? The fingers of his right hand flexed instinctively, as though his arm knew of his distaste for it and felt sorry.

_There was a small shriek behind him and he whirled around to see horrified brown eyes staring at him. Staring at his arm. Exposed. Out to the open air._

_ "Kyrie." He whispered, taking a step toward her and she stepped back "No. Wait…This isn't what you think…" he only wished to explain to her, to make her understand. He had no desire to harm her brother, he wasn't a monster…_

_ "Why…? Why did you do this…?" her voice was soft but under it was the shock, the betrayal…_

Nate found himself crying, what had he done? He felt something every time he thought of that girl…

"Kyrie…" he whispered

A/N: Haha! Nero's begun to remember little things! Unfortunately forhim, his devil blood is progressing much faster than his mind. I feel a little mean for putting him through this, but I'm having too much fun to stop… hope you enjoyed!

Till next time,

-Winged Element


	9. New Fears

A/N: I'm sitting in my virtual class right now and am writing fanfiction instead of taking a test, but eh, I'm ahead so… and my boyfriend is being mean at the moment! (He's reading over my shoulder…) he won't give me a kiss cause apparently I turned him away. I just ended up stealing the chapter title from one of my original works cause I'm lazy like that…

Disclaimer: Once more. I. Do. Not. Own. DMC!

New Fears

"Kyrie…" the name rolled off his tongue once more, and a tear followed it, falling into his mouth. He tasted salt, but that was not what held his attention. The teen was fixated on the image in his mind, the girl that had betrayed, kept the truth from… Nate looked down at his wrapped hand then gritted his teeth as it pulsed, blue light shining through the bandages. _Something's close… _his mind was reacting without the knowledge of his memory, the former brunette tensed, prepared for something, but for what, he did not know.

"What do you mean he's not here?" Quasi was frantically pacing around Devil May Cry, disguised as to not be noticed by the humans passing on the street outside but he still had something about him that put them on edge, it's like they knew he wasn't one of them.

"Just as I said, he went off to follow a lead, we might have found Nero. What did you need to tell him?" Lady watched from Dante's usual spot behind the desk as the inquisitive creature paced, shaking his head and looking for all the world like a scatterbrained professor.

"This won't do… this won't do at all…" he kept up the continuous motion "I need to tell him, I think it might be…"

"If you aren't going to have me pass along a message, then you should leave, I have an appointment with a client in a few minutes."

"Yes, yes, that might be best…" the demon wandered out in a frantic mess, not paying any attention to where he was going and nearly turned flat into the wall before making it to the street.

Nate bit his lip in the middle of class and tried not to react as his arm clenched and he could _feel _the spread of the creepy growths. His fingers were clenched into a fist and he nearly yelped as the tips lengthened into sharp talons. As inconspicuously as he could, Nate looked down and opened the fist, and saw blood welling from four small punctures caused by the new talons that glowed the same bright blue as the rest of his hand now. Underneath his horrified gaze, the punctures on his hand sealed up and closed in a matter of moments.

The teen was more than a little terrified as he raised his normal hand to ask for permission to leave the classroom. Once granted it, he nearly ran to the bathroom and locked himself in a stall; there Nate unwrapped his arm and saw that it had extended nearly to his elbow.

"Why is it growing faster…?" the past couple of days had shown the progress of whatever this was to be increasing. The teen wondered how long he had until it took over him, turned him into some kind of monster. He took a deep breath and recalled the dream he had last night, it had comforted him to no end, but he didn't know why.

_"Look!" he cried, showing the object in his hands to the woman before him. She smiled at the small cat he'd managed to catch and ruffled his hair._

_ "You should let it go now." She said softly. He nodded; releasing the animal then looked back at the woman for approval. She was looking toward the sky and he saw a tear roll down her cheek._

_ "Why are you crying?" the small boy asked, tugging on her leg to ensure he got her attention._

_ "Today was the day he left; he said he couldn't protect me, not yet…"_

_ "Who left?" Blue eyes were round and sad at the sight of this woman crying, he didn't want her to cry, he needed to make her smile again… He didn't understand what she meant._

_ "No one." She wiped the tears from her eyes and then embraced him. "Let's go, I bet Kyrie is waiting to play with you."_

_ "Yeah!" the boy beamed, he loved playing with his next door neighbor, even though she was a girl and girls were icky… He took the woman's hand and followed slightly unsteadily behind her, his shorter legs pedaling to keep up._

"That was my mother…" Nate recalled when he looked back on it. What had happened to her? He had other recollections of thinking of Credo and Kyrie as his siblings but when he remembered his mom, they were definitely neighbors. The bell rang and he realized that he'd spent far longer in the bathroom than he should have and quickly wrapped his arm, he needed to walk by himself today, and maybe he'd stop at the store before heading home… with that thought in mind, the teen quickly rushed to his locker.

Once outside and in town, he felt better, his head felt clearer. A small smile graced his lips; he had remembered his mother that was a step in the right direction if nothing else…

"Kid!" Someone shouted behind him, he kept walking, the thought that they were talking to him not even crossing his mind.

"Kid!" he heard again. Nate shook his head, trying to rid it of the sudden heavy pressure that tingled in the back of his mind.

"Nero!" someone grabbed his shoulder and spun him around. Nate blinked as he looked at the man who looked a little similar to himself, only with snowier hair. He was wearing an almost ridiculous amount of red…

"Who're you?" he asked, unsure of why this man had suddenly grabbed him.

"You're joking right?! C'mon kid! It's me, Dante!"

"I don't know anyone named Dante…" The former brunette said slowly, still looking the man over. I'm sizing him up, Nate realized, it was reflex though, something in the back of his clouded mind forced him to.

"I'm your business partner, remember?" The man spun, a hand on his hip, the other on his forehead in frustration and Nate caught a glimpse of the butt of a silver handgun. When faced with someone who had known him, someone who could tell him who he was, Nate panicked, this man had a gun, and probably still used it, had a reason to. I like who I am now… the teen realized.

"I don't know what kind of business you're in, or I used to be in, but I want no part of it." He backed up, waving his unbound hand. The man looked over his shoulder and noticed where Nate's gaze had gone.

"Kid, it's just Ivory, you've seen it a thousand times, used it a few too." The gun was smoothly pulled from its holster as the man in red looked between it and Nate with a confused expression on his face. His gaze then travelled down to Nate's thigh, making the young man shuffle slightly under the scrutiny.

"Speakin' of firearms, where's Blue Rose?" The former brunette's eyes widened, was he talking about the revolver?

"I-I'm sorry." He stuttered before turning sharply and running in the opposite direction.

"Nero!" he heard the call behind him, but he was swiftly lost in the busy street.

A/N: Hey! Sorry about not getting this up at the time I normally do, we have shorter classes on Wednesdays so I had ten minutes less than I normally do. SO! I'm frantically popping this up after school before our bus heads out for Coldwater tonight! I'm competing bars and floor (gymnastics), I hope you enjoy!

Till next time,

-Winged Element


	10. Running from the Past

A/N: Hey! For those of you that received a second update thing on Ch. 9, read it! I feel terrible about it, but I forgot to hit save before I uploaded the chapter… there was more to it and yeah… I blame my crazy week… but! My gymnastics team qualified for regionals last night! So I'm more than a little tired, but hey, most of the time I write better when I'm not thinking so hard…

Disclaimer: I only wish…

Running from the Past

Dante stared at the spot where the kid had just been, what on earth was going on here? Nero didn't remember him, it seemed, did he remember himself? If he didn't, the elder slayer knew that they were in for a world of trouble, how do you calmly explain to someone that they are part demon but it's okay 'cause they're one of the good guys?

"Damn…" the man in red sighed, looking at the clouds as though they'd answer his problems. He paused for a second before pulling out a well-worn cell phone and punching in a number by memory.

"Dante, what do you need, I'm in the middle of something." A few gunshots rang through the speaker.

"I found the kid."

"Really? That's good. Hold on… Trish!" Dante heard Lady call out, probably tossing the phone to better use both hands in combat.

"Hey Dante, you found Nero?" Trish was always spot on in her intuition

"What are you guys doing? Need help?" The hunter knew it was quite the distance between where they likely were and himself but he could probably get there in enough time to lend a hand.

"Nah, just a large low level nest, they're weak but there's a lot of the suckers." There was a quick crackle of electricity and the phone gave a mild burst of static in protest. "So what's the punk been up to?"

"We have a problem, is Quasi nearby?"

"No. Do you need me to ask him something?"

"Yeah, ask him if amnesia could be one of the side effects of the potion." There was a pause after Dante told her what he wanted relayed.

"How much does he remember?" the demoness' voice was sharp, the white haired man could practically hear the gears in her head turning.

"I don't know, he ran off before I could find out, he doesn't remember me, I know that much. I'm gonna try and find him tonight and get him to come back with me."

"Good luck Dante, try not to scare him too much." Trish told him and Dante gave a humorless laugh.

"I'll try."

Nate didn't stop running until he was back home; he slammed the door behind him and leaned against it, panting heavily.

"Nate, what's wrong?" Janice was in the living room, reading a book.

"I… some guy… he…" the teen couldn't seem to catch his breath, not because he'd just run, but because of the shock and panic that now gripped him.

"Nate. Breath." The twins mother commanded, leading him away from the door and into one of the kitchen chairs. A cup of tea was quickly made, the older woman thought it would be needed, the boy whom she'd come to think of as family looked like he was on the verge of a panic attack. Once they were both seated with a drink in front of them she said

"Alright, what happened?" Nate ran a human finger around the edge of the cup then took a small sip.

"I was walking around town and then this guy just grabbed my arm and started talking to me."

"Did you know him?"

"No. But he seemed to know me, I think he's related to my past…" the former brunette was still avoiding eye contact.

"And you ran away?" Janice was confused by this, Nate always seemed eager to know more about his past, who he'd been before all of this."

"He… felt weird." The teen had a confused expression on his face, as though he were trying to explain something that he himself didn't understand.

"What do you mean by that?"

"It was just… when he was there, there was this… pressure… in my head. God, I'm going crazy." He put his head on the table and didn't move. "And he had this gun…"

"Like yours?"

"No, not at all. This thing was a handgun but I've never seen a handgun like that before… it was… well it was beautiful." Nate didn't know how else to describe it. That silver weapon of death had scared him a little but somehow it seemed… comforting, like he knew how much it had helped others or something weird like that… There was a polite knock on the door and Janice rose to get it.

"Hello." The teen heard her greet, he took a sip of his tea and nearly choked on it when he saw the person in the doorway. It was that man again!

"Hi, my name's Dante, I'm a friend of the kid's." he gestured at Nate when he spoke.

"Who, Nate?" Janice looked back at the boy when she said this, a question in her gaze, he nodded and her face hardened just a little when he did.

"I'm sorry, but he's been through a lot lately, can you come back another time?" the man in red looked a little disappointed at this.

"But I…"

"Another time." Janice insisted, closing the door in Dante's face. She walked back over to the table and sighed.

"How did he find me so quickly?" Nate whispered.

"He looks a little like you." She observed quietly, running an affectionate hand through his hair. Nate froze.

_"It's alright… she's with the Savior now…" Kyrie and her mother both tried their best to comfort the sobbing four year old._

_ "Mom…" the boy reached back even as he was carried away. That night Kyrie's mom held him in her arms and stroked his hair softly until he finally cried himself to sleep._

The memory made his eyes sting a little, so that was why Kyrie and Credo were both family and neighbors…

"Nate?"

"Just a memory…" he whispered, wiping furiously at his eyes, getting up from the table to just be alone for a little while, he really needed to mull this over. Alone. The teen's arm throbbed in warning, telling him the darkness that seemed to be taking him over was growing… eating more of him away. He growled low in his throat then stopped as soon as he realized he was doing it. I can't possibly be human, can I? The white haired boy thought, as the scales stretched up and over his elbow.

A/N: So that's all for now! I should be using this time to work on my English final but… this is much, _much _more fun…

Till next time,

-Winged Element


	11. Discoveries

A/N: Hey people! It's been a busy weekend! I've got all my Christmas shopping done! I gave up a pint of blood! And I read a book! If you have not read _Black City, _read it! Now. It's amazing! Speaking of amazing, I went and saw the Hobbit this weekend as well, so here's the next chapter after the longish break.

Disclaimer: …no…

Discoveries

Nate slammed the door to the bathroom behind him, growling once more, not caring how inhuman the noise sounded. Pain gripped at his arm as it was transformed further into something strange, something… wrong. There was a knock and the teen froze, who was that? They couldn't come in… couldn't see him like this…

"Nate?" Emily called form the other side of the door.

"What?" the now white-haired boy ground out between strikes of pain.

"Are you okay?" she asked

"I'm…fine!" he gripped at his upper arm tightly and made the mistake of glancing into the mirror only to see bright glowing crimson eyes staring back at him. Devil eyes… he thought with dread, who was I? Who was I to have this punishment on me? His arm pulsed, the though blue skin climbing higher.

"Nate, I'm coming in." Emily said, the doorknob turning. Nate wanted to deny her but could not find the breath. Once the door was open he not stop himself from glancing at her and the girl he'd come to think of as a sister halted with a yelp. The older teen's vibrant eyes closed in pain a moment later and Emily grabbed his shoulders in support.

"Nate, what is this?" she could see the blue glow from his arm through the sleeve of his shirt.

"I… don't know." Nate felt the waves of pain backing off, the creepy growths on his arm done extending for the night.

"Let me see." She reached for his arm.

"No." he pulled it out of her reach. She extended her hand again, intent on seeing what was wrong with her friend.

"If you're hurt, I can't help you unless I can see it."

"No, you can't!" he hissed under his breath, trying to keep Janice from hearing them and adding more problems to this.

"Why not?" the blonde met his eyes, and he looked away, ashamed of himself, of something that was happening against his will.

"It… it." Faint blue light pulsed under the wrappings.

"Does it hurt?" she whispered.

"Not anymore, it hurts when it grows…" he stopped when he realized he was probably giving away too much.

"When what grows?" Emily felt a bit calmer now that her white haired friend's eyes had stopped glowing; it was hard to meet his eyes when they were so… unnatural.

"Nothing." Nate muttered, cradling his arm against his chest.

"Please." His pseudo sister touched the wrapped arm, and unknowingly triggered a memory from the older teenager.

_"Kyrie…If I'm a demon… and not a human anymore… is this what you want?"_

_ "Nero… you're you… and it's you that I want to…"_

"Nate! Nate!" Emily shook his shoulders, and the white haired boy finally focused on her again. Part of the memory sticking in his mind while the rest faded the moment it was over, it replayed over and over again in his head.

"I'm not human…" he whispered, shaking a little now.

"What?" the female asked not because she didn't hear him, but because she wasn't sure if he had said what she thought he did.

"I'm not human…" the former hunter said again, a little louder.

"What do you mean, you're not human."

"You saw my eyes when you walked in, it explains so much… how fast I am, my reflexes, how quickly I heal."

"How quickly you heal?" the blonde was a little confused, as long as she'd known Nate, he had healed at a normal pace, just like anyone else. The boy's eyes hardened and he dug the fingers of his right arm into his left wrist.

"What are you doing?" she yelped as blood welled out of the wound. A second later, the source of the blood was gone.

"It's wrong." He muttered, staring at the spot, the blood caught his eye…

_The blood splashed across the ground, the walls, his clothes… he felt himself grin and rev the sword in his hands. Instantly the body that was before him started to burn as it was launched skyward with his swing. He leapt after it, slashing at it, the scent of blood and gore and burning acting as a drug to his battle hazed mind, he reached out with his Bringer and slammed the creature's body to the ground._

_ "Go to Hell!" the yelled after it, seeing the body disintegrate._

"Are you okay?" Emily asked him after seeing Nate get sucked into his mind again. The boy had started panting a little, his eyes wide as he stared at the blood on his arm. There was a small grin pulling at his lips. He shook his head.

"I'm fine." He stood and walked away from her. She stared after him, her green eyes filled with worry. What was wrong with him? Why did he think that he wasn't human? Okay so there were a lot of things about him that didn't make sense but still…

Dante growled as he paced around the hotel room that he'd rented out for the time being. The nerve of that woman! She just shut him out! The kid was within his sight and she just shut the door in his face!

"This is such a mess…" he muttered, shaking his head. Why were things always this complicated? Nero remembered jack, the slayer had that much figured out.

"The kid's gotta be a wreck." Being without his demonic abilities was one thing, but having them come back while thinking you were completely human was an entirely different matter. It had to be terrifying…

"I'm gonna get your memories back Nero." The slayer in red said, his fist clenched tightly "Whether you like it or not."

A/N: Yeah! New chapter! Again! So I have a guest reviewer and I feel bad not answering reviews so I'm gonna put my responses for those down here! (Lana is one of my fb friends so… yeah I just message those to her…)

The Unwanted: You will find out what Quasi knows soon enough, and yes, Nero is scared out of his mind, wouldn't you be? The 'darkness' is in reference to his demon side, as he feels like it's a dark thing trying to take him over… I'm not really stressing over this, it's a good break from my original works

Till next time,

-Winged Element


	12. A Forced Intervention

A/N: Hello again folks! So yeah… my boyfriend decided that he needed to read my _really _old original works… and I'm hoping that typing some fanfiction will distract me from my embarrassment as he sits next to me and snickers…

Disclaimer: What else can I say? Dante is too cool to own…

A Forced Intervention

Emily stalked over to Nate's room in the morning, much earlier on a Sunday than she knew he'd be up but barged into the room anyway. The white haired boy on the bed groaned and rolled over; seeming to know subconsciously that someone was here to wake him.

"Nate." She said, grabbing ahold of the blanket that was wrapped around him. He attempted to snatch it back with a bandage wrapped hand and the girl was startled to see bright blue talons peeking out of the edges of the fingers.

"…don't wanna get up…" he muttered, tugging on the blanket.

"You need to, I'm gonna demand answers from you while you're still half asleep."

"…no…"

"Yes. Up." Finally the blonde had had enough and simply wacked the fluffy white head that poked out of the covers. Nate sat up in an instant, his body believing that he was under attack and preparing to defend himself. The glow from under the bandages had increased violently for a moment before the teen realized what was going on and flopped back over with a groan.

"What do you want?"

"I want to know what this is." She poked the blue flesh that had spread above the bandages while he had slept. He looked at his shoulder in alarm, touching the bump that was forming beneath his skin like it would explode with the slightest provocation.

"I…I don't know, I just know that I'm not human. At least… not anymore."

"Stop saying that!" she snapped, wacking him on the head again. "We just need to figure out what's happening to you. If only…"

"What?" Nate took the opportunity to distract himself from the horrible thing that was slowly overwhelming him.

"If we could find somebody that knew you, then maybe…" she trailed off when she saw Nate's face "What?"

"There was this guy…"

"You met someone from your past and you didn't say anything?"

"He freaked me out! And he was armed!"

"Yeah, and apparently you used to be too." Emily pointed to the gun on the dresser.

"I don't know, there was something about him that just felt… off…"

"That's not a good enough excuse. Get dressed. We're going to see him."

"I don't even know where the guy is!" the boy grumbled as he was forcefully dragged from his warm and cozy bed.

"That's too bad! Dressed! Now!" the younger girl grabbed clothes from his closet and threw them into his arms, slamming the door behind her.

Dante stood before the door, intent on dragging the kid out this time. Yet when he went to knock, the slayer hesitated, the kid seemed fairly happy here… could he take him away from that without feeling like an absolute asshole? At the same time, the kid was regaining his abilities, his _demonic _abilities, there was no other choice. Nero may hate him for this later but he had to at least help him out… The half devil reached for the doorbell and before he could even ring it, the door opened, revealing a young girl and a very tired looking Nero. They blinked at each other for a few moments then Dante said.

"Well that makes things easier."

"You're the guy who used to know Nate?"

"Yeah," the slayer grinned and held out a hand "name's Dante." The girl shook it with a polite smile.

"Come in." she said, gesturing to the house.

"Won't your mom be mad that you're inviting in strangers?" he asked, a little worried about being thrown out again.

"She's at the library this morning and my brother has basketball practice." She supplied "The house is currently empty. I decided that Nate needed to man up and figure out his past." 'Nate' groaned and flopped over on the chair in the living room, putting a human hand to his head… like he had a headache or something. He can sense my presence, the elder slayer realized, but he doesn't know what it is…

"You okay kid?" Nate heard the white haired man ask him.

"Yeah," he muttered, taking his hand from his head and looking the man in the eyes. The teen took a deep breath and spoke to the man in front of him.

"Who was I?"

"I think you mean who are you," the man said "your name is Nero, I don't know your last name or if you even had one, and you're my business partner."

"If you're my business partner then shouldn't you know my last name?" Nate asked

"You never told me what it was and I never asked." Dante replied with a shrug

"What kind of business are you in?" the teen was nervous to the answer to this question and Emily put a hand on his shoulder in support, the man in red looked at her for a moment then said

"Demon hunting." Nate paused, that was not the answer he was expecting

"Demon hunting." He repeated, unsure if he'd heard correctly

"Yes, why else would you have a gun of that class and style? You do still have it, right?" the man looked concerned for a moment, Nate could do little more than nod dumbly.

"So…" the teen swallowed, the next question sticking in his throat. "my arm… is it…" Dante looked down at the bandaged arm

"You have your Devil Bringer back? What about your trigger?"

"What? Wait this is normal? I thought it was possessed." The elder lifted his head and laughed.

"Kid, you were born with devil blood in your veins, let me see your Bringer though, I want to see if you've got all of it back yet." Born part devil…? Nate thought, how was that possible? He glanced at Emily once before beginning to unwrap the unnatural appendage. Her eyes were staring at it curiously as she'd never actually seen it before. The glow began to show throught about halfway through the unwrapping, and soon the red hide and blue scaly skin were exposed to the open air. Without pause, Nate pulled his t-shirt off, revealing the growing bump on his shoulder and the full extent of what the other man called his 'Devil Bringer'. Dante's eyes nearly bugged out of his head.

"That's not normal…" he reached forward to brush his fingers against the ridged bump and seemed to be thinking hard about something.

"I…It's not?" Nate was scared, if this man, a man who knew him before, didn't know what was happening to him, what was he supposed to do?

"It's growing…" the man in red said quietly, still inspecting the freaky limb.

"Growing?" Emily asked "so his arms always a little like this?"

"It usually trickles off about… here." He pointed to the middle of Nate's bicep "But for some reason, it's growing now, changing more of Nero into his demon form."

"Demon… form?" Nate asked. When he did, Dante have a wicked grin, his eyes beginning to glow a little crimson. Nate finally connected it to the pressure in the back of his mind and the erotic glowing of his arm.

"You… you're a demon…" he whispered, Dante feigned shock.

"I am not! …only half!"

"Half demon?"

"Yeah, my mother was human and my father was a demon." The slayer shrugged as though it was no big deal. Emily took Nate's distraction as an opportunity to reach out and thouch the glowing limb, Nate jumped and pulled it from her hands.

"I'm sorry, did I hurt you?" she asked instinctively. The half demon watching them laughed.

"I'm pretty sure you could just about drop a nuke on that thing and it wouldn't hurt him."

"Why?" Nate finally worked up the courage to ask, Dante looked confused

"Because that armor is…"

"No, why is it like this?"

"Because you're a part devil, like me, I thought it already…"

"But you don't have any… demonic parts." The white haired teen looked beyond frustrated. Dante sighed.

"You have no idea kid…"

A/N: Yup so that's the best leaving point I have! Review response!

Guest: I think anyone in their right mind would freak out, the only things I push myself for are my original works, I deprive myself of sleep from them, but what can I say? It's an addiction.

Till next time,

-Winged Element


	13. Confrontation

A/N: Hello all, I've officially decided that I want to murder AP Calculus… I mean I like math but taking it online is a total pain in the ass… I also discovered last night that balance beams are heavy and do not feel good when dropped upon your leg… so I'm currently trying to relieve a little stress.

Disclaimer: We should all pay homage to Capcom for creating something so amazing

Confrontation

"What do you mean, I have no idea?!" Nate stood, waving his bringer in the other man's face. "You don't know what this is like for me! Here I was thinking that I was a human being, just like everyone else around me! And now all of a sudden, I've got a fuckin' devil's arm!" Emily stared at the white haired teen, she'd never seen Nate explode like this, he was always so calm…

"Nero, cool it." Dante growled, his hand shifting toward his gun a little, he was worried that the kid might lose it as he was currently unaccustomed to having that kind of demonic rage within himself.

"Whoever Nero was isn't here anymore buddy!" the boy snarled back at the older man, his eyes beginning to take on a crimson hue.

"Either way, you need to relax." The half devil's own instinct were starting to stir a little from the boy's unspoken challenge

"I'm out of here." The teen snapped, pulling on his hoodie and striding out the door.

"Nate!" Emily yelled after him but Dante put a hand in front of her.

"Let him go, he needs some time to think and cool down."

"What's happening to him, I've never seen him act so… aggressive before."

"Part of that is probably my fault, he can sense the presence of another demon and his own is more than a little defensive because of it."

"His arm… that's got to be hard on him. Has it always been like that? Actually, why was it not there to begin with anyway?"

"He…" the elder slayer wasn't quite sure how to explain the situation "I better start from the beginning." He sighed and sat back down, the girl following suit across from him.

"What does he know? I don't see him waving around demonic limbs…" Nate huffed as he walked down the street, grouchy and cold. He couldn't help himself when he wrapped his left fingers up in his right, the devil arm pulsing a little bit of heat off in waves. As angry as he was, the teen couldn't help but remember the look that had crossed Dante's face when he'd spoke; this man obviously had a history that was far from pleasant.

"Whatever…" he mumbled as he strode into the park that was far emptier than usual due to the current cold front that was rolling in.

"Hey!" the teen paused at the voice and looked around, unsure if someone was speaking to him. When the only people he saw were a few in the basketball courts he kept walking.

"Hey! Freak!" Nate stiffened, he _did _recognize that voice, Colby was yelling from the courts.

"What do you want, slowpoke?" he shouted back over to the courts

"You game? I wanna kick your ass and remind you who's top dog here!" the other teen had started walking over to the point where Nate was standing. With a deep sigh, the former slayer began walking to meet the challenger.

"No thanks, I wouldn't want to crush your dreams." He returned with a smirk, both boys carried a teasing demeanor but both knew that this was going to end with a fight.

"You sure you're not scared?" Colby stepped up, getting a bit close to Nate, the white haired teen had the other by a few inches and used it to his advantage; staring down his nose in a way he'd often seen Credo do. The staring contest lasted for a few moments before Nate simply blinked then shrugged nonchalantly.

"Nah, like I implied, you're not worth the effort." He kept his hands buried deep in his pockets, half for the warmth and half because he hadn't wrapped his devil arm again before leaving the house.

"You wanna test that?" the shorter teen shoved Nate a little

"No thanks." He said, holding his ground until the other boy gave a particularly hard shove and the former slayer found himself unable to keep his balance without the help of his arms. Instinctively he braced his arm against a tree and then glanced at it.

The bright blue glow shown against the dark trunk of the tree. Nate looked from it to Colby and then in a moment of panic took off running.

"Wait! Stop!" Colby took chase.

"Nate's been gone for a while." Emily whispered when Dante had finished his tale.

"Yeah…" the man in red muttered, then stood up and dusted himself off.

"Are you going after him?" the blonde asked, standing as well.

"Yes, grab his gun."

"Is he in trouble?" Dante didn't answer her, but in his state of no memories, Nate likely wouldn't be able to fight off even the minor demon that the hunter could feel spawning.

There was a low growl off to his right and Nate stopped cold, glancing around him at the barren trees. The small strip of woods wasn't far from the park but he was still impressed that Colby had followed him this far. The other teen caught up, and immediately bent over, putting his hands on his knees and panting heavily.

"…what…" he panted again "…was that…?" he gestured vaguely in the direction of Nate's arm.

"Be quiet." The demonic teen muttered, feeling his arm pulse lightly and the back of his mind tingle. There it was again, that growling… Nate turned just in time to duck and dodge the blade that sliced through the air, right where his head had been.

It was ugly and uncoordinated looking, it was a demon. Nate felt his whole body tense and his arm started glowing.

"What is that thing?" Colby yelped.

"… a demon…" he growled, his left hand reaching for his thigh and he stopped, he needed his gun! Suddenly the reason he had carried one made a whole ton more sense.

"Kid!" he heard behind him. He turned and caught the object flying toward his face, cocking the gun and firing it on instinct. The demon exploded and Nate felt a little disappointed.

Dante and Emily ran up beside him the latter looking rather out of breath, Colby stood from where he'd been crouching.

"What's going on here?"

A/N: Mwa ha ha ha! I'm ending here! This is mostly filler, but I feel like it's necessary filler, Nate needs to come to terms with who he is and get the rest of his memory back… I can't wait to do more! No review replies today but I have two questions for all of you, this is the only time I'm actually asking for reviews.

One: If you do your own writing, when you get a new follow/fav, do you immediately check out the person's profile?

Two: What time do you people receive this chapter? I usually post them around 11:00 am in the new york time zone.

Till next time,

-Winged Element


	14. Time to Think

A/N: Hey guys! …so yeah! I've been out for more than a week and uh… don't really have much of an excuse beyond the fact that it's Christmas break for me and yet I still have orchestra rehearsal and gymnastics practice. Anywho! On the plus side, I received the DMC HD collection, the DMC novel, and the second DMC3 manga. Yeah my grandma spoiled me… without further ado; I'll get on to the chapter so you people can stop being so irritated with me…

Disclaimer: Only in my dreams…

Time to Think

The small group simply stood for a few minutes before Colby said again.

"What's going on here?"

"I… uh…" Nate floundered, trying to find more words.

"What the hell _is _that?" he pointed at Nate's arm and the white haired teen flinched.

"It's…" the former slayer looked at his arm then to Colby, who was on his feet and slowly backing away.

"No! I… I'm not going to hurt you!" the larger boy reached out toward his former challenger and Colby continued to back away.

"No! Stay away from me!"

"Colby! Nate's not going to hurt you!" Emily said, trying to bring sense back to the boy.

"Stay the hell away from me you freak!" and then he turned and ran, Emily called after him but the boy didn't seem to hear her as he sped away. Dante watched the scene with mild interest, and then turned his sights back to Nero, who dropped to his knees and just stared at his hands.

"Nate…" his pseudo sister approached him with the intent to comfort him.

"Stay away from me!" he yelped, his face hidden behind his bangs.

"Kid, let her…"

"You stay away too!" he interrupted the slayer in red.

"Your heritage isn't something that you can do anything about!" the blonde finally snapped at the teen. Then Nate turned to face her and she saw his eyes turn from crystalline blue to a vibrantly bright crimson, she shuddered a little though she tried to repress it.

"It still unsettles you though, it still makes you take a step back, Colby was right, I am a freak."

"Kid, you are not…" Dante trailed off when he saw Nero grip his shoulder and grit his teeth. "Let me see." He commanded, approaching the teen despite the growl thrown his way. The kid let him remove his hoodie, despite the cold air and the elder slayer was treated to a view of blue scales and some amorous red plates creeping their way down the boy's ribcage.

"Come on…" he grunted, trying to lift his struggling brother in arms.

"Where…?" Nate bit out, still angry but unable to resist as the pain spiked its way down.

"I'm taking you back to the shop." The half devil looked at Emily. "You go on home."

"What about Nate?"

"I'll take good care of him, but right now, he needs help that he's not gonna get in a small town like this." The eldest Samson twin thought for a moment before nodding and quickly scrawling out a cell phone number on a scrap of paper.

"Here. At least let him call me when he's recovered."

"Dante!" Quasi shouted, to say that the owl demon was pleased to see the slayer would be an understatement. Then the weak creature got a good look at the younger slayer hobbling along beside him.

"Quasi, you better have something to counteract that potion." The man in red growled, while still trying to support Nero, who simply shrugged him off and glared at him halfheartedly. His eyes nearly bugged out of his head when he caught sight of the creature that Dante was speaking to as though it was completely normal.

"Well… no… the effects are temporary so there would be little point in an antidote…"

"You better start looking into it. Just look at what it's done to the kid!" though the younger struggled, he couldn't stop Dante from pulling his hoodie back.

"His Devil Bringer didn't extend that far before did it?" Quasi took a few steps forward and Nate instinctively squirmed in Dante's grip, his mind telling him to fight the monster before him.

"No, it stopped about halfway up his bicep." Dante gestured and finally the teen had had enough.

"I'm still here! Stop talking about me like I'm not!" he snapped, turning eyes that had remained crimson on the older man. In his distraction, Quasi had lightly brushed a feathery fingertip over what looked like a light scar just below his shoulder and instantly the teen was overwhelmed by a memory.

_Power… give me more… power. It was almost as though it were some deep buried instinct whispering in his ear._

It was a memory he'd seen before but this time… this time he knew he'd see more…

_ Something deep inside him stirred and he felt a new well of strength. His legs propelled him forward, almost there… almost there… and that was when he reached. Really _reached _out… and when the demon was in his grasp he yanked it forward, Kyrie tumbling from its grip. Once she was free he set upon the monster every method of torture, every painful thing he could think of. _How dare it touch what is mine? _The teen's mind snarled, a thick haze clouding his thoughts, the demon's blood splashing around him. He grinned, the sight of it was pleasing to him, it put some of that possessiveness at ease. The knight of the Order had long since abandoned his sword and gun, instead tearing at the creature with his bare hands._

_ "Nero!" Kyrie touched his back and he whirled, his eyes still glazed with bloodlust. Then he saw her frightened expression and instantly his high vanished and the pain caught up with him. His right arm hung uselessly at his side, blood pouring from the deep gash on his shoulder. It would be that night that his demonic heritage would truly show itself…_

Nate gulped in breath as fast as he could get it, as Dante and Quasi looked at him worriedly.

"How did you get this, exactly?" the demon asked, gesturing to his arm without touching it for fear of invoking whatever'd just happened again.

"Don't bother, he doesn't remember jack." Dante snorted.

"I… it was from a demon attack… I was trying to protect… Kyrie. I took a blade to my shoulder…" Nate wheezed out between calming breaths. His so called business partner gaped at him.

"Nero? Are you back?"

"No you jackass, I just remember a few things." The teen snapped at the older man.

"It's just as I thought." Quasi mumbled, immedieately gaining the attention of the two hunters.

"What?"

"You two might want to come in, this will take a while to explain in detail."

A/N: Again! I am so very sorry for abandoning you folks! In all honesty though, I was caught up in my original work (which I finally finished) and damn if I didn't want to cry! It's always sad finishing something because I feel like I'm losing some good friends.

Till next time,

-Winged Element


	15. Unveiled Histories

A/N: Hello everyone! I'm back from break and ready to pump out more chapters! Though this week is the very definition of insanity. I have concerts, gymnastics meets, and board meetings for pretty much every club I'm in! So thanks to this fanfiction I'm maintaining some sense of sanity and not blowing up in a giant stress ball.

Disclaimer: Do I look like Capcom? I thought not.

Unveiled Histories

Dante immediately followed Quasi into the building and Nate trailed behind, eying the two warily as he did so.

"Please. Sit." The demon began clearing books and papers and other products of his studies off a couple of chairs so the slayers could use them.

"What is this about Quasi?" Dante asked the small creature.

"Nero's history." Quasi replied. Nate perked up a little, maybe if this other creature told him of what his past was, and then he would remember them for himself.

"You know who I am?" the teen couldn't help but ask, wondering how on earth he'd been acquainted to this bizarre demon.

"Not exactly." He paused, running a hand through his feathers. "Dante, I told you I met your brother?" the elder slayer looked at him with sad eyes.

"You did."

"Well… and this is all me connecting dots, I could be entirely wrong!" he waved his hands in front of himself in a manner that spoke of wanting nothing to do with the situation in front of him.

"Just tell us what's going on." The white haired teen sighed.

"It was many years ago…"

Quasi tensed as he lit the burner… if this worked… he watched experiment with bright, curious eyes. The reaction should take place… he jumped at least three feet in the air at the knock on the door. He ignored it the first time, hoping to see the science work its' magic. Then it happened again. With a sigh, he turned off the burner and went to the door.

Upon opening it, he nearly slammed it again at the intense demonic aura that struck him. The being in front of him looked human, but that was all, and even then, it couldn't hide the cold look in his eyes, the presence he put off.

"M-may I help you?" the owl demon squeaked, the white haired man looked down his nose and the hand on his katana relaxed almost imperceptivity. He doesn't think I'm a threat, Quasi realized, still shaking.

"Yes, you are well known in the matter of demonic artifacts, are you not?" the man asked, his voice as cold as his stare.

"A-a bit, yes, I wouldn't call myself an expert but…"

"I would like you to analyze this for me." He was shown a magnificent ruby red amulet. "I know it is part of a key left behind, but I need to know how it works." Quasi collected the few remaining nerves he had and stood straighter thought he still barely reached the man's shoulder.

"And if I refuse?" he asked in the strongest voice he could muster.

"That would not be wise." The man said, not shifting his own position and the weaker demon's resolve crumbled immediately.

"No… it wouldn't… Though, I refuse to work for someone who does not introduce themselves. I don't need to know why you want to know what you do, but I must know your name. You may call me Quasi, as my true name is difficult for the human tongue." The man snorted softly but nodded.

"I am Virgil, will you analyze this now?" he seemed rather impatient and the demon could only nod dumbly through his shock. This was one of the legendary sons of Sparda? Oh goodness, the demon thought, I really hope I survive this encounter…

"Wait, wait, wait!" Dante interrupted Quasi's tale. "You just gave _Virgil _what he wanted? _Virgil!" _

"He was going to kill me! Of course I gave him what he wanted? I didn't know what he wanted for!"

"I always wondered how he knew about the Temen-Ni-Gru." The slayer in red muttered. Nate watched in fascination, the tale was interesting but all the same, he couldn't see what it had to do with him.

"Anyway, as I was saying…"

It was several hours into the job and Quasi had discovered little about the mysterious amulet in his hand. What he had noticed whatever, was some of the more subtle points in Virgil's aura.

"I'm not expecting an answer, but why are you having me analyze this?" it seemed like the amulet was a key to a portal to hell, a major portal.

"I need the power that it holds."

"Power is nothing without something to protect." The demon said softly and Virgil's blue eyes snapped over to him. Quasi realized this and met the icy stare. "Do you have something to protect?" Strangely enough, the half demon broke the stare and the scent of a recently mated demon flared slightly.

"It's a key to a hellgate, what one, I don't know." He handed the amulet back to the son of Sparda. Virgil stood and walked towards the door, icy demeanor back in place.

"Thank you for your help." With that the door closed and the owl demon sighed in relief at the lack of pressure from the heavy aura.

"Please, please, please don't come back…" he muttered softly, preferring to keep his head attached to his shoulders.

"I don't see what this has to do with me." Nate said from his seat that he'd unconsciously taken in the midst of the tale. Dante's eyes were wide as his own mind connected the dots.

"He's Virgil's son…"

"That's what I assume, as you told me that he was of Sparda's bloodline and Sparda only took one mate." Quasi nodded.

"Wait, are you telling me that this jerk is my uncle?!" Nate sputtered, leaping to his feet and pointing an accusing finger at Dante.

A/N: Yes folks! I know that we've all thought about it before, I mean, I think it's the best logical explaination to Nero's origin! If you don't agree with it, well that's too bad, cause that's how it is for this fic. Thanks to those who support this!

Till next time,

-Winged Element


	16. Acceptance

A/N: Hey people! I've one of the major events of the week under my belt! Concert? Check. And now I'm sitting here typing a fun chapter and listening to the Legend of Zelda 25th Anniversary music, doesn't get better than this. Also, someone was kind enough to point out to me that I misspelled Vergil's name, and I will tell you that wasn't intentional! I apologize! I may or may not go back and fix that chapter but uh… yeah, it's spelled right now.

Disclaimer: Y'know, the rights are still on my wish list and so far I haven't found a magic lamp…

Acceptance

"This is awesome, I've always wanted a nephew." Dante said with a large smirk.

"Shut up and go away." Nate grumbled, the last thing he wanted was for this crazy guy to be related to him.

"C'mon kid, it's not that bad! It's not like we aren't practically family already."

"One, I have a name and it's not kid, and two, _I _don't know you."

"Yes you do, you just don't remember me."

"I'm pretty sure my brain blocked it out for good reason."

"Uh…" Quasi lifted a finger, hoping to get a word in edgewise but the two went on as though the small demon hadn't spoken.

"Nah, you couldn't get rid of me if you tried." Dante waved a hand and Nate nearly started gritting his teeth at the smug air that surrounded the elder slayer.

"You wanna bet on that?" the teen growled, his stubbornly red eyes flashing dangerously.

"I'd feel bad though, beating up a little kid, my nephew no less, it'd just be mean."

"You're a jackass, you know that?"

"So I've been to…" the half devil trailed off as he felt the kid's demonic aura spiked and he flinched almost unnoticeably. "Kid you okay?"

"I'm fine." Nate growled between clenched jaws.

"What's happening?" Quasi asked, finally getting noticed again by the white haired man.

"His Bringer is growing again. Do you know why it's doing that?"

"Well, he said that it grew in after he was attacked, right? And took a severe blow to the shoulder?"

"Yeah, but what's that…"

"My assumption, and this is just an assumption, is that his arm was severely damaged in that attack, so his devil side came in to try to fix the problem, but it was likely supposed to come in in a different fashion. It is the same theory that when someone breaks a bone, it has to be set or it will heal wrong. Turning him human was the equivalent of rebreaking it and now it can heal right. His devil side was probably originally supposed be stronger than it actually was but limiting it to just his arm has actually restricted him."

"But why is it so slow? My first trigger only took a few moments, hurt like hell but it was only a matter of seconds."

"That would be the effects of the potion, it's letting his devil side back slowly, in small amounts so of course his trigger is going to take a rather long time. I'm thinking it would do a much similar thing to you."

"Wouldn't it be better to get it over with all at once? I mean, dragging it out like this looks pretty painful. Is there a way we can speed it up?"

"I told you, many times," Quasi sighed "that the potion was incomplete, how and when his powers would come back is just as new to me as it is to you."

"But can we speed it up?" Dante looked worriedly between Nero and the owl demon.

"I don't know, I'm theorizing right now."

"I'm still here." Nero grumbled, despite the pain clutching at him. To make matters worse, flashes of memory would hit him when the pain would ebb, he got no break. One moment his demonic side was clawing its way down his side and the next he was remembering his life back on an island called Fortuna. After about the third one, his mind overwhelmingly informed him that his name was Nero, and Nate felt more like a nickname than the one he used regularly. Still, he had no recollection of Dante and who he was and what he had to do with his life.

_"Are you sure you're okay Nero?" Kyrie asked, looking up at him with concerned brown eyes._

_ "I'm fine, having a picnic with you isn't going to send me to the hospital." He grumbled lightly, rolling his eyes at her concern._

_ "But your arm…" she looked at the sling-bound limb._

_ "It's fine, I'll be back on duty real soon."_

_ "The doctor said that your tendons were severed, you may never be able to use that arm very well again. I just don't want you to get hurt."_

_ "Kyrie…" the white haired teen started, wanting to tell her, to show her. His arm was fine… well, sort of. It was possessed, deformed, something. But what would she do? He had no intentions of harming her, in fact he just wanted to see her smile… but there was demon blood in him wasn't there? He realized that she had been sitting on the blanket, looking at him expectantly._

_ "It's nothing." He muttered, rubbing his nose to hide his blush._

_ "Tell me when you're ready." She smiled at him gently and patted the blanket next to her._

_ "Are you coming tomorrow?" he looked up at her at the question. His adoptive sister's eyes were bright with excitement and hope._

_ "To see you sing?" Nero asked, just affirming that they were on the same page. She nodded, happiness practically shining off of her._

_ "I wouldn't miss it for the world." He grinned._

"Well theorize faster." Dante snapped when Nero came back to his surroundings and the itching, burning pain crawled farther down his side and across his back. The two had taken no notice that the teen had spoken before he'd had a flashback.

"Maybe…" Quasi paced, his feathers ruffled. "No, that's too dangerous…"

"What is it?" Nero asked, he'd caught enough of their conversation to know what was going on.

"If your mind thinks your life is in danger, you will likely finish triggering in order to save yourself, but that kind of situation is hard to come by without actually running the risk of killing you." The demon explained, reminding Nero greatly of one of his teachers as a kid. The slayer in red grinned suddenly.

"Kid, do you remember triggering the first time?"

"No, but…"

"Come on," he grabbed the younger's arm and dragged him outside the small cottage.

"Where are you taking me?" Nero demanded, flailing in the other man's grip, he stumbled when the other shoved him away and tossed a sword at him. His Red Queen, which he promptly caught and held pointed at the crazy half devil.

"Come on," Dante beckoned "fight me."

A/N: That's all for today folks!

Till next time,

-Winged Element


	17. A Fight to the Death

A/N: S'up guys? How is everyone doing? Me? I'm just happy it's Friday, seriously TGIF, it's also my dad's birthday, and so I'll give a little shout-out to him here, happy birthday Dad! Anyway, don't think you guys are very interested in my personal life so I'll just get started with the fiction.

Disclaimer: Why? I think it's obvious at this point that I don't own Dante.

A Fight to the Death

"What?" Nero looked at Dante like he'd lost his mind, which in all honesty was probably true.

"You heard me, fight me." He beckoned again, and then opened himself up, arms out to the side. "C'mon kid, I'm wide open and I bet you still can't get a strike in."

"I'm not that stupid." The teen sneered, his mind automatically falling into the casual banter.

"I'm hurt!" the elder slayer put a hand to his chest and faked a stumble backwards. "You actually think that I would trick you?"

"Yes." Replied the younger with a roll of his eyes and focused on Dante again just in time to block a charge from the elder.

"Smart kid." The white haired man said as their blades clashed, sparks flying. Thinking as quickly as he could and half reacting on instinct, Nero revved Red Queen, sending fire down the elegant blade. Dante leapt back, not exactly wanting to get burned without good reason and then he charged again, and began putting everything he had into the fight.

Nero stood no chance, and he knew it. That didn't stop him from fighting with the ferocity of a cornered wolf though. Swords clashed again and again, sometimes their masters were on the ground and other times they were in the air, seeming to defy gravity as they tried their hardest to get the upper hand. Occasionally the crack of a gunshot would ring through the air, loud as thunder but for the most part, the two stuck to their swords as a firefight between the two would end in a draw. The teen also knew that he, unlike Dante, didn't have unlimited ammo, he had yet to see the other man reload, he was just wasting bullets and really didn't want to get shot himself. The few times he had gone to reach for the other man with his Bringer had caused the pain of its growth to spike and flare, this didn't stop him from using it but it still concerned the younger partial devil.

"And stay down!" he yelled as he slammed the elder into the ground with his Bringer after getting in a solid combo of blows at about ten or fifteen feet up in the air. Nero dropped down and to his surprise, Dante didn't get up, curious and more than a little concerned, he slowly approached his 'business partner'.

"Sorry Nero." The elder muttered from his spot in the dirt and before the teen could ask him what the hell he was rambling on about Dante had spun, quick as lightning, and pierced Nero through with Rebellion. The younger white haired male sputtered, shocked, he coughed up a bit of blood, and then fell back in the dirt, his eyes drifting closed.

Dante watched the kid with worry in his eyes, he really didn't want to do that but… it seemed like getting stabbed in the chest was a really effective way to activate a trigger. It was what had happened to himself and from what the kid had told him before, that was what had happened to him when he had triggered the first time as well.

"Dante! What did you do?" Quasi stood in the doorway, his wide owlish eyes seeming even wider in his shock.

"I'm getting him to trigger, give him a moment." The half devil looked back at the body of his nephew.

"C'mon Nero, you can do this…" he whispered.

It was so painful… he just wanted to sleep… Nate thought of Emily and Roy and Janice and the good times that had been had there, of lazy Saturdays of three on three and video games, of Emily groaning in irritation as she attempted to help him with his pre-calculus. Something was… off… my name is… the teen struggled, grappling with his mind, split between two separate ideas, two opposite lives. Nate? Nero? Which was he? Then he remembered Kyrie's smiling face, Credo's stern but caring glare, his Devil Bringer, the demons he'd fought against and… and… the appearance of an obnoxious red coated man. The one who had become a sort of brother in arms to him and the adventure that he'd been forced through just because of the man's sudden and flashy appearance. Nero. He was Nero. His time as Nate had been nice, but he wasn't cut out for a simple life, one quarter of his being was a devil, simple and quiet would never work out. A memory flashed through him, a changing point in his life.

_"Soon, you shall be my next subject of experimentation, so I can learn a little something from you… and that arm." The sick scientist who called himself Agnus spoke, so certain that Nero was done for. Despite the burning pain of a blade in his gut, the teen lifted his head and glared at the man._

_ "Never." He said vehemently, spitting the blood in his mouth in defiance. If he had had the strength, the knight of the Order would have smirked at the look on Agnus' face when the blood hit his cheek. As it was, he grunted in pain when the blade was pushed deeper and then abruptly pulled out. The boy's blood splattered the floor as he fell forward, held up only by the lances under his arms, he held onto consciousness through sheer force of will and heard the greasy man stutter._

_ "T-t-t-t-take him out." The possessed armor prepped and suddenly flew forward with the intent to kill. This time, Nero was sure he was done for. He closed his eyes and remembered the day it had changed, the day he had _truly _realized that he was a different sort of being than those around him._

_ "Kyrie, run!" in his distraction he took a blade to the shoulder and nearly crumpled at the staggering pain. Instead he growled, rising to his feet once more and forcing his way through, not caring what became of him, none of it mattered. He'd do anything to protect her…_

_ "Nero!" she called, the demon was almost within his grasp…_

_ "Kyrie! Kyrie!" he needed more… power. Something deep inside him stirred and he felt a new well of strength. His legs propelled him forward, almost there… almost there…_

Dante watched as Nero triggered, truly triggered for the first time in his life, the power wave sent Rebellion flying and he easily caught the weapon. The kid opened his eyes, seeming to revel in the power that flooded him and _glared _at Dante.

A/N: Yes! I'm leaving it here! This fic only has a chapter or two left at the most, so I've been thinking about what to do next, and I've been considering one of those AU Dante and Nero father/son things, because they're so freaking cute! I love the interactions between these two no matter their relationship, let me know, good idea? Bad? Review time! Sorry I forgot last time!

Anon: Thanks for the review! They always make my day and I'm glad you enjoy the chapter. Is this soon enough for you?

Till next time,

-Winged Element


	18. Power

A/N: Hello again everyone, I'm back after a weekend in which I didn't get a break… :( I had a lock-in and a scholarship thing, but luckily, I think after this week, things will calm down. So yay! Thanks once more to those who have this faved or follow this, you guys rock!

Disclaimer: Do you people think I'm lying to you or something? Seriously, I don't own it.

Power

Nero glared daggers at Dante and the elder slayer backed away a little, not wanting to be attacked while the kid was still triggered. The teen's eyes glowed a brilliant, fluorescent blue-white, much like the light from his Bringer as he internally debating the effectiveness of trying to murder Dante. As he did so, the half devil looked the kid's trigger over; he'd seen the ghostly outline of it many times when sparing with him therefore there wasn't much that he hadn't seen. What made him chuckle though was the kid's left arm; where there should have been plated armor and tough hide, was pale human flesh, it was slightly discolored and his fingers were tipped with sharp talons but it was still human. Looks like he's never entirely one or the other is he? Dante thought to himself.

"What the hell did you stab me for you jackass?!" Nero finally demanded his voice deeper, more intimidating that it had been before.

"Well, uh, so you could do that…." He gestured at the kid, hoping that he wasn't about to lose a limb, that always hurt like a bitch. The triggered slayer just growled and then the adrenalin of his first trigger wore off and with a flash of light, the white haired boy was back. He took a deep breath and attempted to get to his feet, only to stumble.

"Whoa…" Dante caught his nephew and steadied him.

"Why am I so tired?"

"Because, triggering for the first time is always an experience, I'm amazed that you're still on your feet honestly."

"But I do this all the time…"

"Not like that. Didn't you notice how much more power you had, how much more you were using?" Dante led the younger back into Quasi's house and sat him down on a chair, Nero said nothing but simply nodded. The frantic owl demon followed behind them, eyes still abnormally large, even for him.

"Do you remember everything now?" the slayer in red asked, the teen accepted the glass of water from Quasi and took a swallow before answering.

"Yes." Then turned on the weak creature beside him. "And seriously?! What the hell?! Why'd you experiment on me?"

"You were destroying my home." The small being said quietly, his feathers puffing up in an attempt to protect himself from Nero's wrath.

"That's no excuse to throw some random, untested potion at me! Do you know how confused I was when I woke up?"

"Very, I'd imagine."

"No shit." The teen rolled his eyes. "If you wanted to talk, why didn't you say so to start with?" it was Quasi's turn to stare incredulously.

"I tried! You weren't listening to me! That's why I threw the first thing I could think of at you! Which happened to be that untested potion! So I'm sorry if I caused you trouble, but think about the trouble you've caused me! I have had to put all of my studies on hold so that I could help you bumbling partner find you!"

"Hey!" Dante said, turning to the demon, who immediately squeaked and apologized.

"I'm sorry! I didn't mean to insult you!"

"Don't sweat it," Nero chuckled, Quasi wasn't threatening in the slightest and his reasons were pretty logical. "he is a bumbling idiot."

"I am not!" the slayer in red protested, starting to look like an indignant child.

"Yeah you are, this situation is technically all your fault."

"How?"

"If you hadn't dragged me out of the office that day then I wouldn't have gotten hit with the potion and wouldn't have forgotten who I was."

"If I hadn't then you would've found something to mess up in the office and _I _would've probably been the one who got into this mess."

"Would've been good for you." The white haired teen muttered.

"What was that?" Dante sneered, though he had heard the younger loud and clear.

"I said, being human would've been good for you, knock you down a few pegs, your ego's too big as it is."

"You wanna go again?"

"No, you'll only cheat again. You played possum so I would drop my guard! That is totally unfair!"

"All's fair in love and war."

"Oh? Last a checked, this wasn't war old man."

"Well _kid, _you're my nephew, so that makes it love by default." Dante grinned, thinking that he had won especially if the kid's expression was anything to go by. Nero rolled his eyes and stood a little shakily.

"You should rest." Quasi piped up, concerned for the teen's condition, he had little experience with half breeds.

"I'm fine." The teen waved him off. "There's something I need to do."

"What is that?" the elder slayer looked at him, though he was pretty sure that he already knew what the kid was talking about.

"I need to go thank the Samsons for all that they did for me. I mean, they gave me a home and took care of me when I didn't even remember my own name."

"Sure thing kid, but ah… you might want to cover that." He gestured to the kid's Bringer, the limb seemed a little… toned down. It didn't glow quite as brightly and the ridges weren't quite as evident, the color a little paler. Nero looked at his arm, the new appearance was surprising, it took him off guard, he'd gotten so used to his devil arm that seeing it changed was just… bizarre. He pulled his sleeve down and stuck his hand in his pocket.

"I'll leave it be, they deserve to know what kind of person they took in." Dante shrugged but didn't argue.

"C'mon, I'll drive. Thanks for all the help Quasi."

"Thank you for not killing me." The demon said "If you should need help again, you know where I am."

"Sure thing." The half devil grinned then jumped in the car and ruffled Nero's hair, much to the younger's displeasure. "See ya around!"

A/N: That's all for this chapter, there will be at least one more chapter, _maybe _two, I'll just see how it goes. Thanks again to those who support this! No guest reviews today so…

Till next time,

-Winged Element


	19. Goodbyes

A/N: Hey people! I currently feel awful today… getting sick is something that just doesn't happen to me so when it does, I get hit pretty hard… but I'm still at school, today is an exam day so I'm sitting in my self-dubbed 'fanfiction hour' for two hours today instead of one. Gotta look at the bright side I suppose.

Disclaimer: I don't think my relationship with my boyfriend would be going as well as it is if I owned Dante…

Goodbyes

The ride to the Samson's home was quiet, too quiet for Dante's tastes.

"So…" he started, trying to pick up some sort of a conversation, at least for a little while, something to break the silence. Nero looked at him, then back to the changing scenery.

"What was it like?"

"What was what like?" the teen asked without turning, he was more than a little sad to be going to give his final goodbyes to a family that had taken him in, given him food, a home, a name, but the less they were threatened by demons, the better. The town itself had little demonic presence from what Nero could remember; you weren't likely to run into a demon unless you went looking for one.

"Being human." Dante said curiously, he wanted to know, he knew which part of himself was which very well but what did it feel like to be completely human? To be the one of the ones that needed protecting? To the elder slayer's utter disappointment, the teen just shrugged.

"I dunno,"

"C'mon! It had to be a little different!"

"It's not like I knew that there was anything else when I first woke up anyway. I just assumed that I was human and always had been. I guess it felt… more naïve? Kinda like when I think back to when I was really little, I mean for the most part I was just confused."

"That wasn't as exciting as I'd hoped." The half devil grouched.

"Turn here." Nero pointed to the street with his human arm.

"I remember where it is." The elder protested.

"Sure you do old man." The younger grinned as Dante pulled into the driveway. Before he could snap out a witty comeback, Nero had leapt the side of the convertible and walked into the house as though it was his own. Which, the slayer mused, wasn't far off the mark, the kid had lived here for several months that qualified him to call the place home.

Emily leapt off the couch when Nero burst through the door.

"Nate!" she said, wrapping her arms around him and nearly tackling the taller boy to the floor.

"Hey," he grinned, thanking any higher power he could that he'd left his Red Queen in the car.

"Mom! Nate's back!" his pseudo sister called into the house. Both Janice and Roy came into the living room to greet him. Roy ran right up to the white haired teen while Janice paused.

"You remember don't you?" she asked

"Yeah," said Nero quietly "Dante helped me out with that." The Samson's finally took notice of the man in red leather leaning against the wall.

"Hello." He said with a small wave and again the teen thanked the heavens that the older man was keeping his mouth shut.

"Thank you." Janice nodded his direction after giving Nero a bone crushing hug, quite the accomplishment for such a small woman. "Also, I apologize for throwing you out the other day."

"It's fine." The elder slayer smiled then tapped Nero's shoulder "I'll be in the car."

"Sure thing, I won't be too long."

"You better not, or pizza's on you tonight." The teen rolled his eyes but nodded as his uncle left.

"You're leaving?" Emily asked, looking more than a little disappointed.

"I have to; I have a job to do."

"What kind of job? What kind of person were you? You said you remember, right?" Roy's eyes were alight with the possibility of the mysteries finally being solved. Nero chuckled, but it lacked his usual humor.

"My name is Nero, I'm from a small island country called Fortuna, my girlfriend Kyrie still lives there, it's where I grew up."

"You have a girlfriend?" the other boy looked a little startled and then his twin smacked him.

"Of course he does you dope! Or do you not remember him muttering her name so much when we'd try to wake him up?"

"Yeah but…"

"What kind of job do you have Nate, I mean Nero?" Janice cut her son off, half because she didn't want to hold the white haired teen up and half because she really wanted to know.

"I ah…" he paused, it was hard for him to admit. How do you go about telling people that you're one quarter devil?

"You don't have to say if you don't want." Emily said quietly, she already knew, had seen some of the monstrosities that he fought.

"No, it's fine." After a deep breath the slayer pulled his right hand out of his pocket. Janice took a startled step back and Roy leaned forward in curiosity. "I… hunt demons. Both Dante and I, we… protect people, do what we can to keep the monsters out of the human realm."

"What is this?" Roy's hand hovered over Nero's Bringer.

"It's part of the reason I can fight them well."

"Can I touch it?" the smaller male asked, absolutely fascinated. Nero thought this was an odd question but nodded and flipped his hand over so his scaly blue palm was facing up. While Roy was occupied he explained.

"In Fortuna we worship the legendary Dark Knight Sparda, he turned against his own kind 2,000 years ago to save the human race and so demonkind and the means to fight them were common knowledge where I grew up, I was a knight of The Order of the Sword. I suppose I still could be if I wanted to…"

"Why aren't you?" Emily asked

"Other places need more help than Fortuna, at least there, people can take care of themselves." The slayer said, shrugging. Janice recovered from her slight shock and then asked.

"Why is your hand like that?"

"'S'not just my hand," the teen rolled his sleeve up to show past his elbow. "and well… that legendary Dark Knight… he's not just my hometown's equivalent of a deity, he's my grandfather. Dante is my uncle, so I'm uh… one quarter demon…" Roy and Janice stared at him as though he'd grown a second head. Before he could take more time to explain himself Emily asked him.

"Did you get it to stop growing?"

"Yeah, though the process wasn't pleasant… still gotta get the old man back for that…" he grumbled "maybe if I get him through with Red Queen…I don't think he's been impaled with that one…" there was a quick honk from outside and Nero's Bringer flickered.

"Whoa!" Roy snapped out of his shock and pointed "It just lit up!"

"Yeah, it reacts to demonic energies; Dante's pissed so his aura flares and my arm picks up on it. It's saved my life more than a few times."

"You're careful right?" Janice's voice was soft and Nero just grinned at her.

"Of course, and thank you, for everything you guys did for me, if you ever need my help, which I sure hope you don't need Dante and I's services, but if you do… here." He handed the twins' mother the card for Devil May Cry.

"If you ever need a break, you're welcome to come back." And then she hugged him again, devil arm and all, the twins joined a moment later and Nero relished the feeling of a normal family, however brief it had been. There was another honk and he disengaged from the Samsons.

"I better go, thanks again."

"Goodbye Nate!" they called as Nero walked out the door, feeling confident but sad at the life he had to leave behind.

"You ready to go kid?" Dante asked.

"Yeah, let's go home."

End

A/N: Thanks to everyone who has supported me in this new adventure! Hopefully I'll have my next exploration into the DMC fandom up real soon! Check it out, and I'll uh… I don't really have anything to offer aside from more chapters… anyway,

Till next time,

-Winged Element


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